Hospitals dump 300 critical patients at Bowring ICU
One of Bangalore’s oldest government multi-specialty healthcare facilities, the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital at Shivajinagar, has been facing hard times handling a large number of unsolicited patients at its two-year-old Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
In the last week alone, various government and private hospitals had referred at least five people in critical condition to Bowring for post-trauma care, without furnishing any case background for treatment.
One of the patients was sent by Nimhans, post-surgery, as the top institute was allegedly unable to accommodate him for further treatment. Sources at Bowring pointed out that the Nimhans authorities were so callous they dumped a patient at the hospital after a trichotomy surgery, with tubes still sticking out of his throat.
With only 10 “functional” beds with ventilators in the ICU, Bowring has had to deal with nearly 300 patients in the past six months — apart from its own patients — from other hospitals. 
Authorities have been crying foul over the manner private hospitals, including some top facilities, have been dumping patients at Bowring, leading to a financial crisis at the hospital.
This has also resulted in a space crunch for its own patients, sources said.
“While Bowring provides the ICU beds at a subsidised cost of Rs 2,500 each, including medicines, most private hospitals collect nearly Rs 25,000 as bed charges,” said a senior doctor.
BGS to St John’s to St Martha’s, Mallige and Narayana Hrudalaya hospitals send nearly 50 patients in various critical conditions to Bowring for further treatment.
“These hospitals milk money from most of these lower middle class patients, given the serious nature of their illnesses. However, after a few days of treatment in the ICU, they send patients who can’t afford the high cost of treatment to our hospital,” said an official at Bowring. And to avoid transport cost, these hospitals utilise the services of 108 ambulances to shift patients to Bowring, he added.
Providing a case study, a senior faculty doctor said that recently a private hospital in Chamarajpet had received a head injury case after the victim met with an accident.
“However, the hospital did not treat the patient for head injury, but merely inserted a rod in the lower left limb of the patient to extract money for a simple procedure. Later, it referred the case to Bowring Hospital,” he said.
