Hyderabad: Private hospital draws flak for apathy

Hyderabad: In the prevailing times of Covid-19 pandemic, the corporate hospitals have drawn a lot of flak from people and judiciary for their apathy towards Covid positive patients. Several complaints about fleecing the patients by presenting exorbitant unwarranted bills have come to the fore. Also, the private hospitals have been criticized for taking advantage of the pandemic situation and fleecing patients in non-Covid emergencies.

According to the city-based NGO, Helping Hand Foundation (HHF), on Saturday it received a distressed call from a well-wisher stating that a 26-year-old man from a middle class family whose widowed mother is a Ayah (cleaner) in a hospital landed up with ruptured intestines in a corporate hospital near Mehdipatnam.

It is alleged that the hospital demanded Rs 2 lakh cash to be paid upfront to take the patient to the operation theatre for an emergency laparoscopy surgery.

All efforts by the NGO to persuade the hospital to go ahead with the surgery with 50 percent advance fell in deaf ears. Left with no choice, the HHF in its ambulance moved the patient who was in severe pain to Osmania General Hospital (OGH). After admission at OGH, the surgeons at OGH informed the NGO that they would take up the case immediately and all the investigations were done in a short span.

The HHF volunteers who are deployed at OGH ran around and got all the investigations done. The OGH doctors took up the case in the late night around 3 am and completed the surgery (Open Colostomy) by 7 am. The patient came out of the OT into post surgery ward at 7.30 am.

This resulted in saving a life of a young man and money, which otherwise the old widow would have borrowed to pay the corporate hospital sharks and landed in debts.

"We are proud of our highly dedicated workforce who stood by the patient the whole night and we are equally proud of OGH doctors who did a mid night emergency surgery to save a life," said a NGO volunteer.