BENGALURU: Demanding that the government take over private hospitals and nursing homes to tackle Covid-19 more effectively, several people’s movements headed by Naavu Bharateeyaru will hold a state-wide campaign against the government on August 10.
The organisers said that hospitals are refusing treatment to non-Covid patients and are also charging higher than the bill limit set by the government. Vinay Sreenivasa, a member of the Alternative Law Forum and citizens’ collective Naavu Bharatheeyaru, told TNIE that the government is going soft on these violators. “ICUs of such hospitals are shut and their licences suspended for some time. The government should take over private facilities as it will create more beds for Covid, while regular government hospitals can be used for non-Covid treatment,” he said.
“Secondly, most government hospitals have been taken over for Covid treatment, leaving other patients in the lurch, as seen at maternity hospitals in the recent past. The problem was anticipated at the beginning of the pandemic and there were suggestions for government hospitals to be turned into dedicated Covid hospitals. The forum had then asked for private hospitals to be taken over, instead of government hospitals,” he said.
Thirdly, small nursing homes are complaining that they cannot manage their setups because of mounting losses. To help such facilities tide over the pandemic crisis, the government should take them over for a few months, like in Telangana, he said.
The campaign, ‘Save India - Do not Sell India’, will also conduct a drive for a memorandum against the government’s alleged trade-off of the country’s farmland, forests and public sector organisations.
“Top politicians are getting admitted to private hospitals which reflects the miserable condition of government hospitals. At a time when the government needs to stand with the people, the response of our administration is disappointing,” NGO members said.