BENGALURU: In a dangerous indication that Bengaluru could be staring at a shortage of beds, Corona patients are facing a tough time trying to get beds in private and government hospitals. “My husband had a fever and as it did not subside for three days, we got him tested. He was positive and was informed about it around 9 am on Wednesday. But no BBMP or health officials made follow-up calls, while we continued to make frantic calls to private hospitals till 12.30 pm. Some said they did not have beds, while others wanted to know whether we had insurance. Government hospitals did not pick up our calls. We were anxious as we also have my 75-year-old father in the house,” said Rashmi (name changed).
A family member of another Covid patient said that his 56-year-old father was informed about being positive on Wednesday. They called private hospitals listed by the health department, but representatives said they had not started Covid treatment yet.Rahul Francis, a do-gooder helping the family, said that when he called government helplines, they only asked the family to get the patient admitted. “For three hours, I tried calling everyone I knew, but to no avail,” he said.
TNIE shared details of both patients with the health department, but no one contacted them. Finally using their personal network, both got admitted two different private hospitals. Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Commissioner for Health, and Dr K Sudhakar, Minister for Medical Education, were unavailable for comments.
“Government hospitals are filled with asymptomatic patients. BBMP is setting up Covid Care Centres. This will be resolved in a day or two,” said Jawaid Akhtar, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department.“There is no shortage of beds. We have notified Haj Bhavan and other places as CCCs. Also, Wednesday was the first day BBMP flagged off 50 ambulances and there could be some teething problems. Normally, the BBMP war room instructs a separate team to shift a patient to a Covid hospital,” said Dr Srinivas G, District Health Officer, Bengaluru Urban.
Special Covid hospitals for docs, cops, netas
Bengaluru: Three notifications were issued on Wednesday reserving hospitals for doctors, police personnel and politicians testing Covid-positive while performing their duties. One floor at Sri Sri Ravishankar Ashram in Kanakapura Road, which is a Covid Care Centre, is reserved for asymptomatic and mild symptomatic police personnel. ESI Hospital in Indiranagar will treat moderate and severe symptomatic police personnel. For elected representatives, ministers and senior ranking officers, one wing of Kumara Krupa guesthouse with 100 rooms of individual occupancy has been reserved. Visitors will be screened with infrared thermometer and pulse oximeter at the entrance. One-third of beds, ICUs and ventilators at Jayanagar General Hospital will be reserved for doctors.