Bengaluru, (Aryavarth). Sunita (name changed), wife of Manas (name changed), who lives in Sahakara Nagar, was taken to the Columbia Asia Hospital in Yeshwanthpur for treatment on the possibility of a kidney stone. After undergoing various tests, Sunita was confirmed to have a stone in her kidney.
The doctor who was treating Sunita suggested surgery to get the stones removed.. Sunita was asked to get admitted to the hospital as soon as possible. She and her family had to face a lot of difficulties after getting admitted. Before the operation could happen a lot of unexpected situations arose which were uncalled for. She was extremely surprised by the misbehaviour of the hospital management and staff. While narrating the incident, she looked disturbed. She said, the negligence by such a renowned private hospital like Columbia Asia should not be ignored. Such cases must be reported so that the private hospitals recheck their patient handling policies. The state government should handle such arbitrariness with tough punishments to keep a check on them. Columbia Asia is one of the few private hospitals in the country where treatment is not only expensive but it is not possible to get easy recruitment there. This is not the first incident when a victim has raised her voice against the Columbia Asia Hospital. In the past too, incidents of inhumane treatment of patients in Columbia Asia have been reported. But often such private hospitals use their sources and money to suppress such incidents. However despite many cases neither the state government nor the central government gave importance to these incidents nor any action was taken against these private hospitals. The central and state government should take such matters seriously for human security or the licenses of all private hospitals running and doing business in the name of human services should be canceled.
What is the incident?
Sunita was advised to get the operation done as soon as possible after confirmation of kidney stone. One day after that, Sunita got 102 fever. Sunita’s husband Manas took her to the hospital in a hurry. Seeing Sunita at 102 degrees, the hospital nurse asked her husband to deposit around Rs 2500 for the first Covid-19 test. It was said on behalf of the hospital that until they do not deposit the money, they cannot start the admission process. Troubled by pain, Sunita continued to suffer for nearly two hours. According to information received from her husband, Sunita was asked to sit in a place where even a chair was not available. Sunita’s condition had worsened due to high fever and weakness. After depositing money in the hospital, Sunita’s husband got her admitted to the hospital.
The incident did not end here. After hospitalization, the doctors kept her under observation for a few days and in the meantime all the investigations before the operation were also done. Meanwhile, when Sunita was given watermelon juice in the hospital, she suddenly realized that the juice smelled rotten. She complained to her husband about it. He understood that perhaps some kind of medicine has been mixed due to which it smelled stale. Sunita vomited about five times after drinking this juice. After which she was injected to stop vomiting. The hospital staff did not give this information to the doctor investigating Sunita.
She then ordered a Vegetable fried rice from the hospital canteen. After eating about four – five spoons, Sunita found a dead fly in that fried rice. When she told this to her husband, he complained to the hospital staff about it. They offered to change the plate. Manas wanted to inform her doctor about Sunita’s complaint but the staff stopped him from doing so. They not only denied to accept it but also added that it must have been outside food that was contaminated. After this incident Manas felt it better to bring home cooked food for Sunita.
But a lot more harassment was yet to unfold. When he tried bringing home cooked food,he was stopped at the main gate of the hospital, informing that outside food was not allowed.. Hearing this, Manas got very angry, he got fed up and tried to complain to the hospital management but he was not allowed to meet the management. He told the floor manager of the hospital about the misconduct being committed by the hospital staff. He told Manas that he was stopped at the gate because of the shift change of staff on duty at the main door. However, the floor manager flatly refused to take any written complaint about the incident. Not only this, when Manas gave information about the whole incident to our newspaper ‘Aryavarth Express’ the hospital staff started threatening him directly, calling Sunita’s operation as critical. They tried to rattle Manas saying that Sunita’s condition is critical and anything can happen during the operation.
Sunita remained hungry for almost two to three hours during all these incidents. Distraught with pain and starvation. Sunita and Manas faced a lot of mental and physical stress due to this carelessness of the hospital management staff. With a 3 lakh bill being charged for the whole process of treatment , Manas was highly disappointed with the service of the hospital and regretted admitting his wife for the treatment. The hospital staff should take responsibility for this inhuman behavior with Sunita and her family.
When the representative of our newspaper ‘Aryavarth Express’ wanted to talk to the hospital management about the inhuman treatment done to Sunita and her family by the Columbia Asia Hospital on receiving a complaint regarding this incident, they refused to speak and said that this is a personal matter of the hospital and no interference should be made in it. e They said that the hospital will try to handle it in its own way.
Hospitals have lost human touch
At this time of the coronavirus epidemic, not only the country but also doctors from all over the world, considering human service as the ultimate religion, are saving lives and providing services day and night. Among them, doctors of some private hospitals still consider work only as a means of earning money. Columbia Asia in Yeshwanthpur is also one of the private hospitals where the management, doctors, and hospital staff are losing humanity and keeping business profits as priority. In such a situation, needy people and patients are facing a lot of difficulties.
What do guidelines say?
Recently, according to the guidelines given by the Supreme Court of the country to private hospitals, it was clearly stated that if a person is in the condition of a medical emergency, then his treatment process should not be delayed. In its detailed instructions, the Supreme Court had clearly stated that hospitals cannot put any pressure on the needy person. The order said that he should be admitted to the hospital without any trouble. According to these guidelines, the state governments have been instructed to take strict action against all the private hospitals that are working in arbitrary.
Sanitizer missing in hospital
When the newspaper ‘Aryavarth Express’’ representatives reached the Columbia Asia Hospital in Yeshwantpur to get information about this incident, they saw that sanitizers were not even kept in the reception of the hospital. It is known that in the guidelines given by the government to fight the coronavirus epidemic, it is clearly stated that from time to time, your hands should be sanitized. This can prevent corona infection.. It has been said that in places like hospitals where hundreds of patients come for examination every day, it is mandatory for everyone to use sanitizer. But these rules given by the government are not being taken care of in Columbia Asia Hospital. When our representative asked the staff for a sanitizer, he said that its is only for the hospital staff and is available with the nurse.
Note – All our readers are informed that if you have ever been treated in such inhumane manner by any private hospital in the city, or you have also suffered the misbehavior of the doctors, management or staff of the hospital. You can share your predicament through our newspaper. Do you know that with this little effort, in the coming days, other people will get information about the misconduct of such hospitals, which they often run under the guise of Service to humanity.
Be sure to share your story with us, and trust that News Aryavarth Express will always stand with you in your fight. Your identity will be kept confidential. Contact us – editor@aryavarthnews.com