Victoria Hospital to stop treating non-Covid patients

Victoria Hospital, the largest government medical facility in Bengaluru, will treat only Covid-19 patients amid a strong second wave in the city.

The decision, announced by the hospital’s medical superintendent Dr Ramesh Krishna following a visit by Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday, left postgraduate medical students flabbergasted.

This is the second time that the hospital has been reserved for Covid patients. It was only in January that the hospital resumed treating non-Covid patients following a drastic decline in coronavirus infections. And it was only in March that postgraduate students at the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) had refused to do any Covid-related work. They argue that reserving Victoria Hospital for Covid patients would deprive them of the much-needed surgical experience.

Read | PG students refuse Covid work at Victoria Hospital

Citing the minister’s order, Dr Krishna said: “Victoria Hospital will again be converted to a dedicated Covid hospital with 750 beds, including 70 ICU beds, in view of the increasing number of Covid cases. All non-Covid services will temporarily be withdrawn until the crisis is over. However, Vanivilas Hospital, Minto Hospital and PMSSY Superspecility Hospital will continue to cater to their non-Covid patients for now.”

The announcement came on a day when the number of active Covid cases in Karnataka crossed the one-lakh mark. Bengaluru accounts for 79,616, or 74%, of these cases.

Besides Victoria Hospital, a nearby hotel will be made a quarantine centre with 200 beds. In all, the BMCRI will manage 950 beds. Apart from the 70 ICU beds, the government is trying to provide another 50-100 ICU beds within 15 days, he said.

The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) was quick to react. “No allowance, no recognition! Innumerable number of waves of Covid will come, yet the government will always find postgraduate residents as scape goats to hide their failures,” it tweeted.

Dr Dayananda Sagar, president, KARD, accused the administration of doing nothing to recruit new medical workforce or building newer infrastructure since the pandemic began. “They are snatching non-Covid patients’ beds for Covid instead of creating more infrastructure,” he said.

Why no other hospital?

Dr Sagar questioned why the government doesn’t have another well-equipped state-run hospital with good ICU facilities for treating Covid patients in the city.

“The government is stuck where it was last year. It’s even worse,” he said. “They increase Covid beds in hospitals where postgraduate students are working in order to use them as cheap labour.”

According to Dr Sagar, residents haven’t been paid “a single penny” as Covid allowance in the last seven months.

“Even when we’re risking our lives and losing our careers, the government hasn’t extended us this basic courtesy,” he stated.