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‘Collect sample from farmhouse, fix O2 cylinder knob’ — ‘VIP’ orders Mohali doctors are fielding

Doctors at Mohali Civil Hospital term the calls by VIPs, including from ex-civil servants, army officers, judges and politicians, a constant 'irritant' especially amid Covid surge.

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Mohali: “Send a team to collect samples for RT PCR tests from our farmhouse”; “Send someone to fix the knob of the oxygen cylinder”; “Send an ambulance for us to shift a family member to a private hospital”.

These are some of the requests from Punjab’s “elite” that the Mohali Civil Hospital claims to have been burdened with earlier this month, just when it was grappling with a devastating Covid-19 second wave, hospital sources told ThePrint.

The calls by VIPs, including former civil servants, army officers, judges and politicians, asking for teams to be specially sent to bungalows and farmhouses, doctors said, remained a constant “irritant” for them and the staff working day and night with limited resources, amid the surge in cases. 

“We often have to send teams to collect RT-PCR samples from people’s homes. Once a request came to send a team to a farmhouse, almost 60-70 km from here, to collect one RT-PCR test sample. Then another requested to send staff to check the knob of their oxygen cylinder,” a doctor at the hospital claimed on condition of anonymity.

“One person calls for a home collection of samples every second day. Sometimes he says his throat is hurting, sometimes he says he sneezed a couple of times, sometimes he says a Covid Positive person sat next to his house, and so wishes to undergo a test,” the doctor added. “These are tests that are free of cost for the people who cannot afford to get tested, but we ought to oblige these people.” 

The doctor further said that some VIPs even ask for ambulances just to drop them off at private hospitals. “They call and ask to send an ambulance, just to be transferred to a private hospital for treatment. Why not pay for an ambulance and get one from a private facility and leave this one for the poor who can’t pay?” the doctor said. “Sometimes, ambulances are gone for a full day of their duty.”

Doctors at the hospital said that despite these requests, they “manage the situation well” and make sure that the commoners do not suffer.

“This VIP culture exists everywhere. These people think they are entitled to these services. But we manage and make sure there is a balance,” a second doctor said. “We do not let the common man suffer although it is an irritant, especially when we were managing here with limited staff and resources.” 

But to cope with the “VIPs” and ensure that they do not hinder critical functioning as much, the administration at the Mohali Civil Hospital has now even unofficially created a VIP testing room and a separate vaccination unit.

‘Asked not to honour such requests’

Speaking to ThePrint, Mohali District Commissioner Girish Dayalan, however, said that the doctors may have faced these requests but they have been asked to “not honour them”.

“Maybe in 20 requests, one was honoured, when a team was sent to a VIPs residence for testing,” Dayalan said. “Yes, the hospital receives these requests but we have asked them to not honour them.”

Dayalan added that although there is no provision for a “door-to-door sample collection” by the government, they have been setting up camps, mobile vans, to test people in markets, in fields in the rural areas and containment zones.

“Very few people come to the hospital to get tested but we ensure that camps are put up everywhere to ensure maximum testing,” he said. “In this process, a team may have gone to someone’s home on special request, but we usually test people in camps. Moreover, if we receive any such request from a VIP, we outsource it to a private lab, which conducts home sample collections.”

In May, over 900 deaths were reported from Mohali, of which 86 were recorded at the Mohali Civil Hospital. 


Also read: No response to global tender for 4 cr vaccine shots, UP extends date for bid submission again


Separate VIP testing and vaccination booths

While room number 46 at the Mohali Civil Hospital has been reserved for collecting samples of VIPs with a team of two — a nursing staff and a data entry operator — a VIP vaccination centre has been set up at the Mohali Medical College, just adjacent to the facility for the common public.

As a result, VIPs do not have to wait in long queues to give their samples or get vaccinated.

“If a VIP, or their family members or someone with a reference comes for testing, we take the samples in this room. We have two people on duty here who collect the sample,” the doctor in-charge, who did not wish to be named, told ThePrint.

“Earlier, over 50-60 VIPs were coming on a daily basis to give samples, but now as cases have gone down, 9-10 people are coming.”  

For the separate vaccination unit, a Punjab Civil Service officer has been made in-charge.

“This centre is for high-ranking officials, Army personnel, retired functionaries and even journalists. When we receive any requests from the top, we ask them to go to this centre,” a third doctor said. 

DC Dayalan, who had given instructions to set up this centre, told ThePrint that it has been done to ensure that everyone is vaccinated.

“Our aim is to vaccinate everyone and not turn anyone away. Sometimes people just land up at the civil hospital without an appointment for vaccination, so we direct them to this facility,” he said. “Yes, many requests do come to us from higher functionaries, who are sent to this facility.” 

The doctor on duty at the VIP vaccination centre said that it was a unit for “staff and disabled people”.

“I would not call it a VIP unit. It is a separate unit to ensure that members from the staff and people who are disabled people are vaccinated. On an average we are vaccinating over 300 people a day,” Dr Anuradha, who was on duty said.

“For the disabled, we even do drive-through vaccination, so they do not have to step out,” she added.

Not the first time

This is not the first time that the “influential” have burdened the system with their requests. 

Last year, during the nationwide lockdown VIPs reportedly bombarded the Chandigarh administration and councillors with requests varying from availability of “freshly-baked bread from Nik Bakers, Figaro Olive Oil, ice-cream from Baskin Robbins, fresh strawberries and skimmed milk”.

According to officials it was because they could not afford a “break in their prescribed diets”.

“All these VIPs are in the same boat. Everybody wants to get tested in the comfort of their homes and hence these requests. They even ask for vaccination for their children and many ensure that they get it, but the health minister of Punjab is very strict when it comes to vaccination requests, since there is already a shortage,” Davinder Babla, the Congress Councillor of Sector 27 and 28, Chandigarh, said.

“Last year during the lockdown, these VIPs made requests for fresh bread, strawberries, when people were finding it difficult to arrange one meal.”

(Edited by Arun Prashanth)


Also read: Haryana’s Chautala village sent hundreds to farm protests. Then Covid cases, deaths piled up


 

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