A road accident victim who was admitted to Victoria Hospital died in the ICU on Thursday. His relatives staged a protest on Friday alleging that officials, at a private hospital blood bank, delayed providing blood refusing to accept Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.
The hospital, however, denied these allegations. A spokesperson from M.S. Ramaiah Hospital said it provided blood free of cost within two hours.
“Since the blood was frozen, it needed to liquefy, and we provided it in two hours,” said Sumathi S.H., assistant professor, Department of Transfusion Medicine and Blood Bank, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College.
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The victim Raju’s family had a different story to tell. His wife Soumya said: “The hospital staff refused to accept Rs. 3,000 and asked us to bring Rs. 100 bills. Later, after speaking to several doctors and providing an identity card, we were given the blood, three hours had passed by then.”
Balaji Pai, special officer, Trauma Care Centre, Victoria Hospital, said Raju was in a critical condition when he was admitted. “Raju’s blood group AB +ve is a rare one. The blood bank at Victoria Hospital had provided 14 units of blood for transfusion,” he said.
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The wait to go home got longer for Nisar Khan, who was admitted to a well-known private hospital on Cunningham Road on October 26. Mr. Khan, who underwent an angioplasty, was handed a bill of Rs. 10 lakh. “My family managed to pay half the amount. The hospital asked me to pay Rs. 4.81 lakh on Friday. They said they would only accept cash, DD or online transfer. They even refused to swipe my debit card,” Mr. Khan said.