Himachal director health services arrested in corruption case; state sans health minister

Kuldeep Chauhan 

Tribune News Service 

Shimla, May 21

The arrest of the director of health services (DHS), Dr Ajay Gupta, in connection with a corruption case last night, here, by the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau, has exposed the fact that all is not well with the state Health Department, considering that Himachal has no health minister even amidst the rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases.

Though chief secretary Anil Kumar Khachi has given the charge of DHS to Dr Bharat Bhushan Katoch, a joint director in the directorate of health services, but the medical fraternity has expressed its concern over the absence of a full-fledged health minister in the state.

Medical officers said there had been a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases —from 41 on May 5 to 140 on Thursday — with most cases reported in the last week that has turned the curve almost vertical and is a serious concern for the state government.

The vertical surge is attributed to thousands of returnees from across the COVID-affected states to Himachal Pradesh in the last three weeks.

Most of the cases are the returnees kept in the quarantine centres in Kangra, Hamirpur, Chamba, Solan, Una and Mandi districts.

Former health minister Vipin Parmar was appointed as Speaker last year and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur is yet to appoint a health minister.

The monitoring of health department and its overall supervision had suffered as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had other major departments to oversee as well, the sources in the department said.

Even as all attention of the state government is focused on containing the COVID-19 outbreak, but right now, monitoring of the state health department needed a full-fledged health minister, the health experts said.