In surprise visit, Lokayukta finds Karnataka hospitals in poor hygiene, lacking staff

The Lokayukta’s surprise visit to government and BBMP-run hospitals has unearthed poor maintenance, low hygiene standards and underutilisation of resources.

The Lokayukta constituted 10 teams to visit 21 hospitals over two days, including Vani Vilas, KC General, the referral hospital at H Siddaiah Road, Bowring and Lady Curzon, and Babu Jagajivan Ram Memorial.

Report of the finding revealed that at least eight of the 13 hospitals failed to maintain the expected hygiene standards. The waste-disposal mechanism at the hospitals were found to be dysfunctional.

“There were heaps of garbage in many of these facilities. For instance, at Minto Eye Hospital, medical waste was found dumped in a room and a proper disposal mechanism was not adhered to. Similarly, at Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, biomedical waste, which was as old as three days, was seen lying around,” an official noted.

Stinking and dirty toilets were a common sight at most of the hospitals, the official added. Leaking roofs, a sign of poor building construction and housing, was a concern. Though the building was constructed at Dr Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital only in 2017-18, it was cracked in many places with damp walls. The situation was similar at the Vani Vilas Hospital and Jayanagar Referral Hospital.

Many of the facilities had inadequate stock of medicines and were horribly short-staffed to efficiently serve patients. The hospitals also forced patients to buy medicines from outside since the prescribed drugs were unavailable. Discrepancies were found in stock registry and available medicines.

“Apart from the shortage of required medicines, many hospitals did not have enough manpower to provide efficient healthcare facilities. In Vani Vilas Hospital, there were 413 vacant posts to be filled by Group A, B, C, and D employees,” said Lokayukta Justice B S Patil. The report also pointed to the officials’ failure to use the available infrastructure.

Paucity of staff to operate equipment meant the best-in-class devices at the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) and the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Jayanagar General Hospital could not benefit a single patient.

Cramped treatment areas, missing information boards, distribution of uncooked or unhealthy food, lack of a cash declaration register (a sign of corruption) were also found at the hospitals.

Cases against officials

Justice Patil said cases will be registered against all the officials concerned. “We will register cases against individuals and collectively against the department concerned and seek their explanation,” he said.

“We also plan to conduct surprise visits to many more hospitals, not just in Bengaluru, but across the state. Public healthcare plays a crucial role, and we will ensure efficient services are provided at these facilities,” Justice Patil added.