GADAG/HUBBALLI/KOLAR: As the doctors continued their strike across Karnataka on Friday, several lives were lost due to lack of timely medical attention and overcrowding of government hospitals. With the exception of Bengaluru, where outpatient services and diagnostic labs were opened after shutting down for day, services in other parts of the state in private hospitals stayed shut.
Three people including a three-monthold infant died as patients and their families were made to run from one hospital to another looking for doctors. In addition, four people died in Yadgir as private hospitals were shut and the condition of the patients had deteriorated by the time they came to the government hospital. A newly-married man died in Gajendragad of Gadag district on Friday morning due to lack of timely treatment.
Ravi Veerappa Bhajantri (22), a resident of Janata plot of the town, had been diagnosed with dengue fever and was suffering for the last three days. On Friday morning, his family took him to various private hospitals in Gajendragad, but in vain. Finally he was admitted at a local government hospital. Since the hospital did not have facilities to treat him, the doctors told them to take him to Gadag district hospital but he died on Friday around 11.30am on the way to the hospital. Ravi Bhajantri got married just last Sunday. In another incident in Puttur near Mangaluru, a 20-year-old girl died after she could not undergo dialysis at the hospital.
Pooja, a student of B Com suffered from renal problems and had to undergo dialysis regularly. Family members said that she was rushed to a private hospital in Puttur after taking a turn for the worse, but no doctors were available at the hospital to treat her. Pooja died at the hospital. In Chintamani, a three-month-old baby died on the way to Kolar Medical hospital. Family members said that Shweta and her husband Munikrishna, hailing from the village Heregattigenahalli of Chintamani taluk, took their baby, which was suffering from high fever, to several private hospitals but were turned away everywhere after being told that no doctors were available.
Citizens rally for
Medical Bill at Town Hall Bengaluru: Around 300 citizens protested at Town Hall in support of Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Amendment Bill 2017 to be passed in its current form. The protesters included women, senior citizens and daily wage labourers. The associations that organised the protest are Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali, Alternative Law Forum, Slum Janaandolana Karnataka, Karnataka Janashakti, Swaraj Abhiyan, Samaana Shikshanakkagi Janandolana, Mahila Munnade, Safai Karmachari Kaavalu Samiti, Karnataka Sex Workers’ Union, Swaraj Sanghatane, Sangama, Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha, Lancha Mukta Karnataka, Janandolanagala Maha Maitri, and Jana Sangram Parishad.