BENGALURU: When 80-year-old Lakshmi was rushed to private hospitals in Banashankari and JP Nagar in search of an oxygen bed, after her oxygen saturation dipped to just 67, her relatives called up this newspaper, begging for help. But Lakshmi soon passed away.
After Maria Joseph (64) was rushed from hospital to hospital in search of an oxygen bed, a person called up this newspaper, seeking help in finding a bed. Joseph breathed his last late at night in an ambulance, after a 36-hour search -- across the city right up to Hosur on the Tamil Nadu border -- yielded no result.
These are but two of the hundreds in Bengaluru who have died due to lack of beds. This reporter called up BBMP officials and the health department, seeking a bed, only to be told that even if the Chief Minister recommends, there is no oxygen bed available.
Health experts say the peak is still a couple of weeks away, and if this is the situation now, what will happen when we hit the peak. Community medicine expert and consultant with United Nations Dr Edmund Fernandes told TNIE, "What are they waiting for, why cannot they set up makeshift ICUs and tele ICUs that can be monitored by experts remotely on open fields?"
In such a situation, it is private medical colleges that have not been roped in effectively. "They have commandeered 75 per cent of the facilities in private medical colleges, why can't they take over 100 per cent?" asks TR Raghunandan, former IAS officer.
He said the government has the power to commandeer these medical colleges which have beds, trained staff and PG students. "At a time like this, every bed counts," he said. But one medical practitioner said it is not so easy because these colleges are run mostly by powerful people and politicians.
“Does the government have a soft corner towards medical colleges owned by politicians? I would like to file a PIL to commandeer the staff and facilities of private medical colleges,” said K V Dhananjay, Supreme Court advocate.