High Court judge's surprise check at Bowring Hospital reveals shortage of outpatient registration counters

Bengaluru: A surprise check of the services at the Bowring Hospital in the city by Justice P S Dinesh Kumar, Judge, High Court of Karnataka and Executive Chairman, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) on Wednesday revealed a delay at the outpatient registration counter due to very few counters functioning.

Arriving at the hospital at 12 pm, the chairman inspected the hospital’s emergency ward and the arrangements made for Covid in the Covid ward. Inspecting the outpatient registration counter, he found very few counters catering to a large group of patients seeking registration.

A few patients complained that they had to wait a long while to complete the registration process, following which, Justice Dinesh directed the hospital superintendent Dr K Kemparaju to streamline the registration process and open more counters as part of a detailed action plan.

“Nobody should have to wait for a long time to get registered; anyone coming to the hospital should be attended to at the earliest. Their waiting period must be less than 15 minutes,” he told the media, while the superintendent assured that more counters would be opened to cater to more patients.

Answering a question about staff shortage at government hospitals, Justice Dinesh Kumar said, “We've to check if there is a staff shortage. If there is, and if we obtain exact figures (of shortage) we will thoroughly check it and submit recommendations to the government”. He also directed both the superintendent and the Dean-Director Dr Manoj Kumar to let the KSLSA know what shortcomings the hospital was facing so the authority could intervene, if needed.

He also checked the general wards, paediatric wards, neonatal and paediatric ICUs, and the blood collection centre, among other locations, and inquired with the patients about the quality of treatment they were receiving. "I haven't received any complaints from in-patients. I have also seen cleanliness being maintained well in the hospital premises. I have seen the hospital since the 1970s; there has been a marked improvement," he said.