Tamil Nadu dashboard shows beds, private hospitals say not available

CHENNAI: By the time his test results came out positive on Thursday, S M Krishnan, 66, of Theni was coughing and choking, in need of immediate medical attention. His family desperately tried three private hospitals in Theni district that were listed on the government dashboard. All three refused to admit him.
As per the dashboard, the three Theni hospitals – Krishnamaal Memorial hospital, NRT hospital and TNKHNV hospital – together had 60 beds for Covid-19 patients.The facilities included 18 oxygen-supported beds, 23 ICU beds and seven ventilators. The hospitals told Krishnan’s family, “please do not come anywhere near our facilities”.
This is not a stray case. Across Tamil Nadu, Covid-19 positive patients complain that private hospitals turn them away. The hospitals say they don’t have the facilities and point fingers at the government. The dashboard lists 230 hospitals across the state that have 12,436 beds set aside for Covid care. The Theni hospitals told TOI the government listed them on the dashboard without their consent.
“We raised objections, but they are not willing to remove our name. They said they had pressure to show availability of beds,” said Kamala Kannan secretary of TNKHNV hospital. Gunasekaran of NRT hospital and Karthik of Krishnamaal memorial hospital said they don’t have a separate wing or entrance for Covid patients, so there was no way they could treat them.Anbu Hospital in Kumbakonam and Annai Medical Centre in Kallakurichi are two other hospitals listed on the dashboard that refused to take in patients. A representative at Anbu hospital said, “We cannot pay the doctors or nurses. And what will we do with our heart and kidney patients if we admit Covid patients?”
Sudha Hospital in Erode said it would take in Covid patients from Monday, but only if they pay in cash.
Krishnan, who finally got admitted to the government medical college hospital in Theni, said the government’s dashboard was humbug.
In Madurai district, 11 private hospitals are authorised to treat Covid-19 patients. However, only around five of them take in patients to full capacity. According to Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) doctors, Covid-19 cases from private hospitals get referred to them if patients’ condition is critical.
Ajay Yadav, project director, Tamil Nadu health systems project, said every hospital on the dashboard was listed after the hospital submitted a letter of willingness to admit Covid patients. “They cannot deny admission to any patient. They should at least undertake basic treatment before referring them to other hospitals,” he said.
Health secretary, J Radhakrishnan said he would immediately call for an inquiry and take action. “We are not trying to add beds just for the sake of numbers. We will immediately take action. If they cannot provide treatment, they will be removed from the list,” he said.
However, Indian Medical Association, state president Dr C N Raja said there was a lot of pressure in tier II and tier III cities to just add beds on paper. “None of these small and medium hospitals can treat Covid patients as they would have to stop taking other patients. They have single entrances mostly. Some of these hospitals double up as homes for the doctors. And they may have just one or two doctors on duty as they would be run by a couple or a trust. They cannot afford to go in quarantine. We have raised all these issues and have asked the government to stop adding beds on paper. They should set up consultative committees at district level to address these issues,” he said. He added that across Tamil Nadu 1.20 lakh beds were made available for Covid patients by private hospitals.
(With inputs from Sukshma Ramakrishnan)