Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Jul 6: State minister for medical education, Dr K Sudhakar, has warned private hospitals refusing to treat coronavirus patents of filing criminal cases agains them. He was addressing a press conference after returning to Vidhana Spudha after visiting the Jayanagar public hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Chest Diseases Hospital on Sunday July 5. He had visited these hospitals in view of certain complaints.
"The government is already in discussions with private hospitals. The private hospitals, as against the promise of providing 2,734 beds for COVID treatment, have given only 116 beds to us till now. I urge them to handover the remaining beds at the earliest," he stated. He also warned that hospitals which turn away patients without treatments will be sued.
The minister expected the coronavirus situation to come under control since Monday and asked people facing problems in getting admitted or having problems with test reports to contact helpline 1912 which serves people round the clock.
"I have noticed some reports saying that a sum of Rs 4,000 to 4,500 is being collected from people for coronavirus tests. The government has conducted over six lac tests till now without charging anything. The private hospitals should collect only Rs 2,200 from patients not referred by the government. If they collect exorbitant charges, steps will be taken against them," he added.