ahmedabad the gujarat high court has said that it is good that the health minister is active but it is his duty to ensure public health in this time of the covid19 pandemic the court also said that it is the time for the state government to establish that civil hospital is not only the largest hospital in asia but also the best onethe hc said so when the state government rushed to the court on monday two days after the hc castigated the administration for the civil hospital mess and asserted that the health minister visited the hospital campus five times and the health secretary visited the campus on 20 occasions the hc had questioned whether the minister had visited the hospital at allthe bench of justice j b pardiwala and justice i j vora was not impressed with the defence and said we are glad to know that the health minister of the state is active and taking keen interest in the administration of civil hospital it is otherwise also the bounden duty of the health minister to ensure public health as a health minister of the state he shoulders huge responsibilities it is expected of the health minister to discharge his responsibilitieson the state governments insistence on a clean chit to civil hospital administration the hc said the state of gujarat should not hesitate to take stern action against any erring officials found to be negligent or careless in discharge of his duties this is the only way the state government will be able to repose confidence in the mind of a common mancomparison with france italyahmedabad the state government has compared the gujarat condition with the ones prevailing in france and italy one of the worst affected countries in the world the state governments clarification application reads while comparing the state of gujarat with countries like italy and france the population of which is similar and where the available medical facilities are very much superior to that available in the state yet the rise in number of covid19 cases has been substantially slow in the state as compared to the said countries