Shock, disappointment  greets patients

BENGALURU: For many people who arrived in Bengaluru on Friday in the hope of availing medical services, the strike by private hospitals came as a rude shock. Left with little choice, they headed to different government hospitals in the city.

Amarnath B L was sitting in the waiting lounge of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) Hospital on Victoria Hospital campus on Friday evening. His 65-year-old father Lakshmaiah V has trouble sleeping due to a head injury he suffered six months ago. Amarnath had driven all the way from Chintamani to St John’s Hospital in the city, but he was turned away.
“We weren’t allowed inside. We were turned away from the gate saying there is a hospital strike. I didn’t know about it. Then someone told us this is the biggest government hospital in the city, so we came here. We are waiting for an MRI scan,” Amarnath said.

Jyothi M S and Girish M J had come to the city with their two-year-old mentally challenged son Rashik Raj from Mysuru. They were supposed to get treated at a private hospital in Wilson Garden, Shantinagar. “We learnt of the strike and came to PMSSY instead. We’ve been to a lot of government hospitals like NIMHANS where they haven’t given us any hope of his recovery. We will get the scan done here and get the consultation done at the Shantinagar hospital on Saturday,” Jyothi said.

Dr P G Girish, special officer, PMSSY, said, “We saw a spike in cases from 706 to 767 in the out-patient department. We could handle the patient load. Cath lab procedures were all scheduled beforehand, so there was no problem. Doctors who avail of non-practising allowance are required to work in government hospitals full time. There are others who don’t take the allowance and go to private hospitals to consult after 4 pm. This strike is a loss for private hospitals and a gain for government hospitals. We are used to handling heavy patient load.”