BENGALURU: A man lost his life Wednesday midnight as two government hospitals in Bengaluru shunted him to and fro in his last critical hours.
According to a letter written by the casualty medical officer of the Yelahanka General Hospital, Dr Kumar GH, the man was found around 2 pm Wednesday in Old Town of Yelahanka and brought to the hospital by local social workers.
He was diagnosed with hepatic encephalopathy (occurrence of confusion, altered level of consciousness, and coma as a result of liver failure). He was resuscitated and restored to consciousness.
But since the hospital did not have the wherewithal to treat him, he was referred to Victoria Hospital, a tertiary care hospital. In his letter to the casualty medical officer of Victoria Hospital, Dr Kumar says the deputy commissioner of police (North) was advised to take the patient in an ambulance to Victoria but the later hospital refused the unidentified man admission.
The patient reportedly died after midnight after battling for his life in his last crucial hours.
Health commissioner Subodh Yadav told New Indian Express, "This is an interdepartmental failure. Three departments were involved -- the health department of the General Hospital, the medical education department of the Victoria Hospital and the police. Our medical officer has submitted a report to me saying that the patient was a beggar. The reason why he was shifted to Victoria is that our hospital did not have the equipment to treat him. I haven't been able to talk to Victoria on why they refused admission as claimed by our hospital."
Subodh Yadav later added that the Victoria Hospital told him there was no record of the patient being brought there, neither as an out-patient or in. The Yelahanka hospital on the other hand says they received in writing from the ambulance driver that he indeed went there. There was no other hospital staff accompanying the patient.
“Prima facie it looks like the fault lies with our GH as firstly they didn't have to wait for the police to shift the patient to another hospital. I have instructed my nodal officer to give me a full report in 24 hours," Yadav said.
As per the Supreme Court’s March 2016 guidelines, a hospital cannot keep a patient waiting for treatment, citing formalities. Karnataka is the only state in India that has passed the Good Samaritan Bill, which is awaiting Presidential assent.
Even in medico legal cases, when a patient is brought to hospital for treatment, police presence is not required for shifting the patient to another hospital. In this case, no hospital staff accompanied the patient apart from the ambulance driver and police personnel.
In cases of unidentified victims, it is not required for the hospital to wait for relatives or family members to arrive.
As per the Supreme Court guidelines, saving the patient is the top priority. Police formalities, etc have nothing to do with following treatment protocols.