News Brief
MP Tejasvi Surya with MLAs Satish Reddy and Uday Garudachar
There are enough beds in Bengaluru city but none of them were available to people as war room personnel have been running a racket of false blocking beds and then allotting them to those they please, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has alleged today in a press meet today.
An enraged Surya remarked that those involved in this racket will surely face a unpleasant end themselves as they have played with lives of hundreds of people who died without having access to beds despite there being enough of them available.
Along with MLAs Satish Reddy, Uday Garudachar and Ravi Subramanya, Surya ’exposed’ the workings of a group involving Arogya Mithras stationed at various hospitals, staff of the agency that is handling the war room, certain BBMP officials who have been ‘playing with the lives of people’ and assurged action against all those who have led to this ’fake scarcity of beds’ in Bengaluru.
After investigating data involving over 10,000 patients pertaining to distribution of bed, the procedure, protocol, time of booking, Surya said, they found dubious patterns of beds being blocked against names of patients who were in home isolation and the reallotment of the same to others.
Revealing details of patients, whose names have been changed to protect privacy, Surya apologised to all those who have lost their lives due to such corrupt practices and said the same has been brought to the notice of Chief Minsiter B S Yediyurappa who has assured strict action against those involved.
Surya also alleged that officials had been avoiding provision of data and only after he threatened to sit in protest outside the BBMP office late last night was he able to avail of the same.
Some patients they allege have been booked twice at the same hospital while in reality the patient when contacted by the MP’s office denied even being contacted by the BBMP about the allocated bed. “Arun has informed that he is asymptomatic and did not require or request any hospital bed,” said the release, divulging details of how the bed was blocked at Pristine Hospital and then unblocked only to have another patient blocke don the same bed in a matter of hours.
At Apollo, a patient who claimed was under home isolation and had no symptoms was shown as having an ICU bed blocked for her. Another case mentioned was of Narasimha who was booked in three hospitals and informed about none. “Surprising fact is that she did not even need hospitalisation. She has recovered and is stable now” said the release issued after the media address.
Sadly, another patient, who passed away, required an ICU but was booked a HDU bed at Apollo Jayanagar and wasn’t informed about it.
As per the release the fact that “a bed is blocked and the patient is admitted into the hospital within a span of few seconds shows the clear nexus between the Arogya Mitra at the hospital, the hospital incharge and the zone/108 bed booking incharge,”.
Alegging that this has resulted in a lot of wastage of beds, it said almost “50 per cent of the beds are unblocked after 12 hours. And that the share of unblocked beds against overall admissions indicate that a more deserving patient is denied a hospital bed for a person who is not even interested in getting admitted,”.
This is unpardonable, said Surya, given that people are dying all over and the sights haunt all those who have been working round the clock to save them.
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