Poor patients top priority: PCMC health chief

Municipal Commissioner Asheesh Sharma on Monday said he has not yet signed the file appointing Iyer as the next health chief. “I will do so in one or two days,” he said. Iyer will have a very short tenure as health chief as he will retire in June next year.

Reacting to his almost certain appointment,Iyer said he was happy but it has come too late in the day. “If given an opportunity,I will do my best to tone up the medical services,especially for the poor,” he said.

Welcoming the development,Independent corporator Maruti Bhapkar said Iyer was an experienced and an honest officer. “He will have the bigger responsibility of ensuring transparency in the functioning of medical department of the PCMC. We can only hope that the poor and middle class for whom medical treatment has become unaffordable would be given justice during Iyer’s tenure,” he said.

Another corporator Babu Nair said Iyer will certainly do a good job as he has been an efficient officer with clean image. “But he will face several hurdles as some doctors don’t want an official who is a hard-task master. Iyer will have to get rid of many moles in the system to make system transparent and public-friendly,” Nair said.