Seven months into the pandemic, people in Karnataka are still struggling to get an ICU bed. With more and more patients in home isolation developing complications and turning critical, the demand for ICU beds with ventilators went up in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, since the beginning of this month.
An online survey conducted by LocalCircles, a community social media platform, found that over 30% of the 2,456 respondents in Karnataka said they had to use “connections” and “clout” to get a COVID-19 ICU bed, while only 7% of the respondents said that they got a bed through the routine process.
While 16% of the respondents had to follow up aggressively with the hospitals, 2% even used social media to draw the attention of the administration to get an ICU bed. Some of them even complained to the government.
According to the survey, 35% did all the above while 4% even paid a bribe to get an ICU bed. Only 7% said they were able to get it through a routine process, while the remaining 6% said they did not get a bed at all.
In Bengaluru, 28% of the 1,544 respondents had to use connections and clout, while 8% got it through a routine process. While 17% had to follow up with hospitals, 2% used the social media to draw attention. 37% did all the above, 3% paid a bribe, while 5% did not get a bed at all.
Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles, said: “We received many complaints from citizens across the country about their family, friends or associates not being able to find an ICU bed at a government or a private hospital. We received about over 17,000 responses from citizens located in over 211 districts of the country.”
The survey was conducted from September 15 to 17. Overall in the country, while 78% of the 17,000 respondents had to use clout and connections to get the bed, only 4% were able to get it through the routine process, he said.
Tushar Girinath, official in-charge of bed management in Bengaluru, who admitted there was a shortage of ICU beds a fortnight ago, said the issue had been resolved now with the State government increasing the ICU bed capacity in Bowring and Lady Curzon Medical College and Victoria Hospital. “We have added 100 beds each in Bowring and Victoria Hospitals. Moreover, the ICU bed capacity at CV Raman Nagar and K.C. General Hospitals is also being augmented. These hospitals will get 25 ICU beds each by this month end, and another 50 beds will be added by mid-October,” he said.
Mr. Girinath said a few private hospitals were trying to create an artificial demand for ICU beds to exploit patients who walk in directly. “However, this is only a negligible percentage of hospitals. Most other private hospitals have now fallen in line,” he added.