Bengaluru: Ex-cop faces problems in getting hospital bed

BENGALURU: A 64-year-old former cop with suspected Covid-19 could not get a hospital bed under the BBMP quota as he is not a Bengaluru resident and was not triaged by the civic body, claimed his family and a volunteer. BBMP denied the charge of being apathetic, saying it followed up his case. It added that he didn’t have the infection and was stable, and therefore, didn’t require a Covid bed.
Retired sub-inspector Shivaraj S Othial is a resident of Othial village in Vijayapura district.
On July 3, he had a cardiac arrest and was rushed to the district hospital. According to his son-in-law, Shiva Sharana, doctors suggested that Shivaraj should undergo a triple valve surgery, and the family then took him to Bengaluru in an ambulance.
Shivaraj was admitted to a hospital on Hosur Road as a cardiac patient on July 4 and as per protocol, he underwent two Covid tests. One test was negative, but the other was positive. A Bengaluru Urban (BU) number, which is assigned to patients, was generated and he was shifted to an isolation ward. “We got his BU number and contacted BBMP, but it didn’t allot us a bed,” Shiva claimed.
Vishwanathan, a volunteer with Whitefield Rising, tried to help the family. “Starting Monday morning, I contacted all zonal officers and helplines, but they passed the buck or said that the patient should have been triaged in Bengaluru. The hospitals we approached said that only BBMP could assign a bed. I contacted at least 27 BBMP representatives, but to no avail,” he alleged.
He added: “Though we had a BU number, officials said that a bed cannot be given under the BBMP quota as the patient is not living in Bengaluru and has not been physically triaged at any BBMP centre. I was shocked that priority was given to rules instead of the patient.”
After Vishwanathan narrated the incident on Twitter, he received a call from BBMP on Wednesday morning. Shivaraj was discharged in the evening. “Doctors have told me that he will have to be in quarantine and come back for surgery after 10 days,” Shiva said.
What BBMP says
Civic officials said that Shivaraj was only a suspected Covid patient and didn’t require a Covid bed under the BBMP quota. “The patient was found presumably positive for Covid-19 in CBNAAT test and negative in RT-PCR test. CT showed no signs of Covid,” said BBMP special commissioner (health) Randeep D.
Randeep said that the Hosur Road hospital kept Shivaraj as a suspected Covid case and discharged him on Wednesday. “Our mobile triage team did visit the hospital and collect details from treating doctors and from the family. Except for the long-standing cardiac condition, the patient was stable with no Covid symptoms,” he added.
According to Randeep, the hospital uploaded his CBNAAT positive status on the ICMR system even though the report said presumed positive, and not confirmed positive. “Even if the patient is not from Bengaluru, once BU number is generated, it is BBMP’s responsibility to treat them,” he said.