BENGALURU: If you are finding it difficult to book a bed for a Covid-19 patient in Bengaluru through the BBMP war rooms, the officials and tele-callers may not be the only ones to blame, but politicians too, according to a nodal officer at a war room. In the light of the developments over the last two days after the ‘scam’ in bed allocation surfaced, the officer said, “Despite agencies’ directives, there are lesser staff reporting for duty. If the staff strength is 55, 20% of them have not turned up.
This is because the politicians and the bureaucracy have failed to instill confidence among the staffers and ensure their safety.” Another official working with the war rooms said there is also staff crunch because of the ongoing police interrogation. “There were already problems with the war rooms and the number of calls were increasing. Now, the staff strength has reduced... Some staffers and doctors are called for police investigation and some of the computers have also been taken for investigation, making matters worse.
So, if people are unable to get beds, they should blame the government - politicians and bureaucracy - for it,” the official said. Another official said that in some war rooms, the staffers have refused to allot beds fearing that they are being tracked and they may land in trouble.
They are asking the doctors to do it or even requesting the patients to go directly to a hospital where there is a bed. A BBMP official said this ‘scam’ has just made matters worse and many people are losing trust in the system. “So, we are talking not just to the employees, but their families too, and trying to motivate them. The callers are not interested to make calls also ... this is affecting patients to a large extent.”