Cong MLAs stage a walkout

Responding to this,Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Pradeepsinh Jadeja said the Central government was issuing advertisements in the media about their achievements with photographs of those who were not even holding constitutional posts.

He was referring to Congress president Sonia Gandhi but without taking her name.

When Jadeja repeated his statement,Congress MLAs took an objection and demanded that Speaker Vaju Vala expunge his remarks.

However,Vala allowed the proceedings to continue,following which they walked out of the House.

Jadeja said that under Congress rule in the state,the plight of media was even worse and added that the party that failed to protect journalists during its regime,had no right to talk about the plight of journalists.

Later,Congress MLAs claimed they were demanding discussion under Rule 47 but the Speaker did not allow raising the Point of Order and was functioning in an autocratic manner.

“We raised the issue of media’s independence and censorship by the state government but the Speaker did not allow us to raise the Point of Order and so we boycotted the Assembly session,” said party chief whip,Balwantsinh Rajput.

New scheme aims at expert medical care at govt hospitals

The Gujarat government on Friday announced a new medical scheme “Chief Minister Services of Experts at Treatment Unit (CM-SETU)” to provide expert medical services to patients across the state under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

An announcement in this regard was made by state’s Health Minister Nitin Patel in the state Assembly. Patel said a decision had been taken to provide services of expert physicians,surgeons,orthopaedic surgeons,children’s doctors,women’s doctors,radiologists,ENT specialists and pathologists to all in the state.

He said specialists in various medical streams would be appointed in community health centres and sub-district and district hospitals.

The doctors would serve for three hours in these hospitals and the cost of patients’ treatment would be borne by the state government,he said.

The doctors,the minister added,would be paid Rs 600 for every hour’s service and they would render 18 hours of service every week.

Patel said that CMSETU’s implementation will provide private hospitals’ treatment in government hospitals. To maximise the services provided by doctors,the local administration should collaborate with their working hours so that expert doctors with private practice can provide best consultation,operation,investigation and emergency services.