Incidents of fake doctors and hospitals like Sameer Hospitals, Mehdipatnam gave more insight into the world of “Corporate Mafia” in the health care sector in the city and the inability of the state-run monitoring agencies in cracking the whip against such establishments and the quacks.
“People are scared of getting medical care at corporate hospitals in the city these days. They are sure of dying there due to excessive medical bills if not due to coronavirus. The present mortality rate due to contagion may have a direct bearing on the ill happenings going out there in corporate hospitals. There are many things that would point towards the failure of the state-run agencies to rein in the errant hospitals,” said, Syed Nizamuddin, President, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).
“These incidents brought to light the ‘hysteria’ created out of coronavirus that allegedly took more lives than the contagion itself. Doctors prescribing medicines and tests without any necessity, charging exorbitant fees, and over the counter medicines available at all the time at every medical shop in the city are the few aspects that taking a toll on the health of the poor. Medical care became out of reach for poor in a city which considered as “Medical Hub” of the country,” bemoaned Mohammed Shoukat Ali, a civil rights activist.
“There are several incidents brought to the light recently wherein the affected people were told to pay exorbitant medical charges before taking away the bodies of their loved one. There are also the reports wherein the patients’ families were told to pay the full amount claimed by the hospitals or else the patient will be labeled as covid-19 that would deprive the family members of burying their loved one with full respect,” claimed Mir Mushtaq Mirza, a city resident.
Mohammed Jahangir, a social activist in the city, said, “People with ailments other then covid-19 are trying their best to keep stay put in their houses instead of approaching the hospitals till they kick the bucket. The corporate hospitals take no much time to advise the families to shift the patient to government hospitals if they found their financial condition so poor to bear the medical expenses.”
Asking what hindsight would develop among the citizens about today’s medical profession when it is failing to rescue them at their trying time, he said: “Poor people with chronic ailments prefer staying at home till die down as they are well aware that the corporate hospitals in the city will never prefer their plight over their financial condition.”
