When the city hosted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive meeting recently, authorities at the State-run Bowring and Lady Curzon and Victoria hospitals were jittery as protocol demanded that almost all the participants be provided a medical team as they had ‘Z’ category security.
Authorities somehow managed to handle the situation. But the impact was felt by patients in these hospitals and students of Bengaluru Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI).
In fact, every VIP visit to the city takes a toll on patients. During such visits, a retinue of government doctors has to accompany the cavalcade and be on call till the visitor leaves.
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Two hospitals are expected to depute a team of three specialists and a nurse, a Group ‘D’ employee and a fully equipped ambulance for the VIP. The doctors are deputed in two shifts.
The situation has worsened in the last few months after several eminent personalities from Karnataka were put at the helm of affairs at the Centre.
As a result of these frequent VIP duties, patients’ appointments with these specialists are put off. Often, surgeries have been put off and students are forced to forgo classes as their teachers are on VIP duty.
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“Patients grumble and adjust with our skewed schedules. But, we do not know how to convince students, who are irked with us for not taking classes regularly,” said a senior doctor from BMCRI.
“This is an unnecessary exercise and we’re fed up. Although we have appealed to authorities several times to set up a separate squad of doctors for VIP duty, teaching doctors are always deputed,” said another senior consultant from the Department of Medicine in Victoria Hospital. One of the doctors, who is frequently deputed for VIP visits, said the deployed staff have to sit in an ambulance (round-the-clock) without basic facilities or a cup of coffee. “While the VIP enjoys his stay, we neither get food nor incentives,” the doctor added.