Private hospital in East Delhi cheats H1N1 patient

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, March 12, 2015: More than 3,600 people in the Capital have been affected by H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, with the death toll already touching 10.

 

Amid this scare, a lack of co-ordination in the state health department has turned into a golden chance for private nursing homes to fool patients. Forty-one-year-old Lalit Bhasod is the latest example and victim of this confusion.

Bhasod was admitted to a private hospital in East Delhi’s Krishna Nagar with symptoms akin to swine flu on January 29. After initial medication and a swine flu test, he was discharged on February 2. The very next day he was a confirmed case of H1N1. The nursing home told him to get his medicine from any government-authorised hospital, stating that they do not have any stock.

"The doctors at the nursing home told me that they don’t have medicine for swine flu. I rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital to procure my medicine and treatment," Bhasod told Mail Today.

But what Bhasod didn’t know was that the nursing home was collecting swine flu medicine from the state health department on his behalf. The medicine is to be given for free to a patient detected with the virus. He was buying this medicine from a chemist shop near RML Hospital.

The big reveal happened following repeated text messages to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s number following a harrowing experience at RML Hospital. "I had a bad experience with the hospital staff at RML and decided to share my experience with our CM. After sending numerous text messages on his WhatsApp number, I got a call from an official from the health department," said Bhasod.

The official from Delhi Health Secretariat (DHS) asked him whether he was taking the free medicines supplied by them to the nursing home.

"I was shocked," he said, adding that he then wrote to the DHS, giving details about the entire episode. The DHS wrote to him on March 10 for further discussion on the matter. A copy of both the letters is with Mail Today. A shocked Bhasod said, "They (the private hospital) were keeping a stock of medicine on my name but weren’t giving it to me. They did not even inform me about it."

The health department has now initiated action against the nursing home.

"We have received a complaint about the issue and a team of our doctors are working on it. Stringent action will be taken against the nursing home that has been making fool of the patient. No such illegal activity will be tolerated," said Dr. Charan Singh, additional director, Directorate of Health Services (DHS).

Meanwhile, 69 fresh cases of swine flu were reported from the Capital on Wednesday, taking the total numbers of confirmed cases to 3727.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday