Government hospitals rope in doctors, but no rush

BENGALURU: Although major government hospitals, including National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology and Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases had anticipated a rush at OPDs and made necessary arrangements, not many patients were seen on Friday morning. Only Bowring and Vani Vilas Hospitals saw a rise in the number of OPD patients in the latter half of the day .
Bowring Hospital, which sees 1,500 OPD patients on a given day , saw about 1,750 patients registered on Friday .Vani Vilas Hospital treated 227 patients at the OPD till 2pm, while it treats only 100120 patients on other days.The hospital, which conducts 70 deliveries a day , on Friday conducted 44 deliveries till 2pm. Leave scheduled on Friday was cancelled for all Vani Vilas staff, and senior doctors from other departments were asked to work in the OPD.
Nimhans, however, did not see a rise in the number of OPD patients ­ while it averages 450 patients a day , only 250 patients had registered on Friday , while another 100 were seen in the registration queue for the evening.
Dr BN Gangadhar, director, Nimhans, said: “No unusual rush was seen at the OPD in the morning. While on other weekdays we get 1,000 to 1,700 patients, on weekends and Fridays, the number is usually 450 patients.The morning saw around 300 patients, which is normal.“
Dr Gangadhar, who was anticipating an increase in the number of patients in the later half of the day , had instructed staff to be prepared to handle any situation.
Dr KB Linge Gowda, director, Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology , said, “While we are not expecting a big rush at our OPD as many patients are followup cases, we made arrangements in case there were any additional patients from private hospitals.“ On Friday , Kidwai Hospital had seen 1,000 old patients and 100 new patients at the OPD, as on other days.
Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology saw its regular number of 1,000 to 1,200 patients. “There isn't any pressure on our OPD,“ said Dr CN Manjunath, director.