Fewer coronavirus patients at Victoria Hospital but non-Covid services still shut

Resident doctors will hit the streets on Monday in protest against the continued closure of tertiary care services for non-Covid patients at Victoria Hospital, the largest government-run medical facility in Karnataka.

The protest will be held in front of the main building of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI).

Tertiary services for non-Covid patients are yet to begin even a month-and-a-half after Covid patient numbers began dropping at the hospital. The monthly patient data released by the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors has revealed the extent of the problem. While 16,443 non-Covid patients registered in February, the number was just 102 in April.

The hospital once had a staggering 3,000 outpatients a day and its surgeons would operate on 75-100 people. But they have not lifted the scalpel in the last nine months. Resident doctors said statements by officials on allowing non-Covid patients have largely remained empty promises.

“They shifted patients from the Master Plan Building (MPB) to Trauma and Emergency Care Centre one-and-a-half month ago,” Dr Dayanand Sagar, president, Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors, told DH. “Since then they haven’t taken any initiative to start non-Covid services. All the statements of reopening non-Covid services are mere lip service.”

Doctors’ requests to begin outpatient services at least in the MPB have been turned down with excuses like bathroom renovation. “We used to see 4,000 patients in the OPD. Now for 150-odd patients, we have 500 doctors,” said Dr Sagar.

If other medical colleges in the state can allow non-Covid patients, why cannot the BMCRI do the same, doctors ask.

“The fumigation and disinfection are for operation theatres. Now the number of in-patients is only 200. The OPD block has never been used. Why weren’t the culture samples taken one-and-a-half months ago itself? The sample reports would have come by now. If not in-patients, why can’t outpatients be seen. None of the HODs was even called for a meeting on non-Covid services. Without getting work experience, what will we do with our degree,” Dr Sagar asked.

10.8 lakh patients hit

Victoria Hospital, one of the major tertiary care hospitals in the city, was chosen as a dedicated Covid care hospital since the pandemic began nine months ago, the statement from Karnataka Association for Resident Doctors (KARD) noted, adding that hospital caters to nearly six to seven districts around Bengaluru.

“The hospital is a beacon of hope for millions of poor patients who can only afford two meals a day. A casualty which used to be filled with patients requiring emergency care is now empty,” it said.

While it was justified to reserve the entire hospital to care for Covid-19 patients when the pandemic was at its peak, now thousands have been treated and discharged. “But what is the situation now? There are less than 100 patients daily since the past one-and-a-half months. An entire tertiary care hospital with more than 5,000 employees today treats merely 100 patients,” the statement said.

What impact has closing down Victoria Hospital caused to the common public? It’s not just the patients, it’s their families which have been affected. Going by 4,000 daily patients that the hospital used to serve before the pandemic, as many as 10.8 lakh patients have been in the past nine months.

“Medical students, postgraduates who have joined BMCRI for the sake of education have been affected. What about the medical equipment worth crores that lie in dust? What about the human resources that lay unutilised? How long will it take to open the gates of the hospital that hasn’t seen such silence in its 100 years long history?” the association asked.