Anantapur: Fear of Coronavirus spread makes private hospitals turn away patients

Anantapur: The Covid-19 scenario has made day to day private medical practice redundant and in a way irrelevant. Experience of people in the wake of covid context proves the point that one can live without doctors and medicines on a daily basis, to a great extent. This is not to say that doctors are irrelevant but except for life threatening diseases like heart or kidney patients, who needed intensive care and expert medical support, hundreds of patients suffering with minor ailments, who rush to the private hospitals on a daily basis and especially those category of people who get medical reimbursements and the doctors who exploit and manipulate such patients with exorbitant billing even for headache and fever are now living life, by and large a healthy life totally confined to their homes by eating really healthy food and breathing fresh and quality air.

Since, nearly four months, private hospitals, clinics and laboratories were hardly functioning. Medical personnel, who will not give more than a minute to patients for consultation in ordinary times, are now not willing to treat patients even if they dared to come in these covid times. Suddenly life has become dearer than money to the medical and health consultants.

In ordinary times small, medium and big hospitals and nursing homes are full with patients, for meeting specialty doctors one has to take advance appointments. Large queues for doctor's appointment and one is not entertained for more than a minute as time is viewed as money.

The unholy nexus between majority of doctors-clinical labs and druggists had been resulting in virtual loot of patient by showing even small ailments through a magnified glass and one is conditioned to believe that there is no life apart from doctors, medicines and hospitals. Now the paradox in the situation is clearly evident.

With corona in the front seat, all physical ailments have been pushed to backburner and suddenly the patients with small ailments are able to take care of themselves apart from doctors and medical paraphernalia.

Venkata Indira, a social worker told The Hans India that with multiple ailments in her body though not life threatening, was heavily dependent on the doctors until the corona and lockdown but all these four months I am able to manage without doctors and hospitals. Corona challenge has changed my health lifestyle, food habits, home environment and I have emerged stronger and healthier by being god-conscious and enjoying the beauties of life. With hundreds of hospitals downing its shutters, a small section of people are able to access telemedicine but majority are outside the medical treatment fold. The paradox is when patients want to comes the doctors is saying no due to fear of corona in the medical fraternity. Corona has brought doctors and patients on a single platform. The binding factor is fear of corona.

When the district administration called for interviews for doctors' appointments thrice, not a single doctor or MBBS graduate responded, the reason being fear of treating corona patients.

A medical house surgeon, who refused to identify herself told The Hans India that doctors for the first time are shying away to treat not only a covid patient but also a non-covid patient for fear that the patient may be a carrier of virus. All government and private hospitals are declared as covid hospitals, which means there will be no treatment for general ailments for some more time but still life has not come to a stand-still for the general populace, she adds.