Social activist and retired Assistant Registrar of Kurukshetra University Davinder Sachdeva has demanded the district administration to constitute Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) at the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) and the District Civil Hospital. He has written a letter to Deputy Commissioner Anand Kumar Sharma, urging immediate constitution of the samitis for the welfare of patients.

In his letter, Sachdeva pointed out that as per National Health Mission (NHM) guidelines and the instructions of the Haryana Government, formation of RKS for every government health institution was mandatory for redressal of patient grievances.

“KCGMC and the District Civil Hospital are major health care institutions in the district, catering to lakhs of patients annually from Karnal and adjoining districts of Haryana and UP. Patients at this institute face numerous day-to-day difficulties regarding facilities, cleanliness, availability of medicines, lab tests, X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, referrals and grievance redressal,” said Sachdeva, adding that an attempt was made to constitute a committee at KCGMC but it could not materialise.

He further said he had earlier raised the issue with the authorities at KCGMC, and they informed him that the hospital administration has already constituted a committee in 2025. However, he said the committee could not serve as a substitute for the RKS, which was a separate statutory body meant to look after patient welfare and hospital management.

He proposed that the DC be appointed chairman of the committee and MLA Karnal take charge as its vice chairman. “There should be regular monthly meetings to review patient facilities, cleanliness, availability of medicines, functioning of labs and redressal of grievances from both hospitals," added Sachdeva.

"Besides, the RKS will pay special attention to welfare of leprosy patients, Bal Bhavan and old age home inmates referred to the hospitals, and monitor referral cases and ensure transparency and avoid unnecessary referrals. It will also look after the proper distribution of medicine to patients," he suggested. An official of the KCGMC said the institution already had a Hospital Welfare Committee, which regularly held meetings to resolve the issues of patients.