RJD chief Lalu Prasad's eldest son and state health minister Tej Pratap is known to avoid the media, unlike his younger brother and deputy chief minister Tejaswi. But in a candid tête-à-tête with The Telegraph on Tuesday, the new health minister sought to dispel critics' doubts on his capacity to run the department. He is hard at work, he insisted, and cited changes he has initiated. The health department, he said, is going to install closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at government hospitals so that he can personally monitor what is going on there. He evinced pride at being the state's youngest health minister, and said curbing private practice by government doctors and ensuring availability of drugs at government hospitals were his priorities.

Excerpts from the interview:

♦ Tell us about some initiatives taken by your department.

CCTV cameras are going to be installed in government hospitals. We are going to start it at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH). Most CCTV cameras at the hospital are non-functional. As per plan, I will monitor activities at hospitals through the CCTV cameras. In another initiative, we are soon going to launch a helpline number people can use to complain against the functioning at government hospitals or seek help regarding treatment. If a person calls for help to admit an emergency case at a government facility, an ambulance would be rushed to the patient. Also, we'll install lifts at PMCH. There are lifts lying unused since ages there.

♦ Is your department mulling action against private practice by government doctors?

We don't want government doctors to be absent during duty hours. We've decided to suspend those found absent during duty. Dereliction of duty won't be allowed at any cost.

♦ When can we expect the drug crisis in government hospitals to end?

We have initiated the process of issuing tenders to buy medicines. Unavailability of drugs would probably end by April. We were earlier thinking of buying drugs from Government of India firms, but the plan has now been dropped.

♦ Intensive raids are going on at drug shops across the state since you became health minister. Have you given any specific instructions in this regard?

Yes, I have asked the drug control administration to carry out intensive raids at drug stores, as I have received information that sub-standard and fake drugs are sold at stores across the country. I want to root out the business of fake and substandard drugs, thus the raids, which will continue in the coming days.

♦ The Opposition is criticising you for the surprise inspection of government health facilities by your father Lalu Prasad. What's your take on that?

Lalui ji is a mass leader. People respect him a lot. There is nothing wrong if he goes to a health facility, finds irregularities and informs me. Anybody who is unhappy with the functioning of state-run hospitals can inform me. I will probe the matter. The Opposition is unnecessarily making an issue out of it because Laluji is my father. Even as a journalist, if you find any problem in any government hospital and inform me, I will take action. As far as Lalu ji's IGIMS inspection is concerned, he went there after informing me.