2 weeks Ago By Jegadeeswari Pandian
MADURAI: Observing that the State cannot shirk its constitutional obligation by citing financial constraints, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently directed the Tamil Nadu government to allocate funds to establish a Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) facility at Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai within three months. The facility must be completed within six months thereafter. A bench comprising Justices MS Ramesh and AD Maria Clete issued the directive while disposing of two PILs that highlighted the absence of BMT services in most government hospitals across Tamil Nadu and sought guidelines on the standard of medical infrastructure in these hospitals.
The litigants pointed out that apart from Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children in Chennai, no other government hospital in the state provides free BMT services. The Director of Medical Education stated that setting up the facility would cost Rs 13.52 crore, with Rs 3.
63 crore as annual staff expenditure and Rs 4.99 crore for equipment. Rejecting the government’s financial argument, the court affirmed that medical facilities for the poor are a constitutional obligation.
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