Mysuru: The swanky new Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research on KRS Road in PKTB Sanatorium premises bereft of any facilities was inaugurated with much fanfare on Mar.10 by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah and it was covered extensively in the media. Thinking that it was fully operational, a patient was brought to the new hospital only to be turned down by the security guard stationed at the gate.

A person who noticed the incident told Star of Mysore that the patient’s family who were anxiously looking to enter the premises were shocked to find the gates locked. One of the relatives of the patient got down from the car and approached the security guard near the security room. He told them that the hospital had still not started functioning and they should take the patient to the Jayadeva Hospital in K.R. Hospital premises.

The patient and the family members were forced to go away, regretted the person who was a witness to the incident.

Anyway one may wonder what is so significant about this incident that needs to be highlighted. After all the 350-bed hospital built at a cost of Rs.150 crore was inaugurated by the CM and many knew that it will take months to start functioning. However, what this incidence speaks of is the way the political class functions.

It is a matter of life and death when a patient is brought especially to a heart hospital. The doctors always talk about the ‘Golden Hour.’ Those precious few minutes can save a person’s life or one can lose life. In such a situation how much time must have been wasted in bringing a person who was suffering from heart ailment and being turned away and asked to go to another hospital quite a distance away. Added to this what could have been the mental status of the patient subjected to this mental trauma. Looked at in the light of all this, the matter assumes significance.

Hastily opened Hospital: The Chief Minister has inaugurated the Rs.150 crore hospital and Rs.25 crore Trauma Centre in a great hurry on Mar.10. However, from the status of the building, it looks like it will take another three to four months to complete the work and no one is sure when it will become fully operational.

The public strongly feels that the whole exercise of inaugurating the hospital in a tearing hurry was because the model code of conduct could be announced any time and hence only empty rooms were inaugurated. Still there is lot of work that is left incomplete. The medical equipment and the furniture have still not been installed. There is no clarity on the appointment of the doctors and the staff.

The only conclusion that one can arrive at is, it is only to gain political mileage that the state-of-the-art hospital, without any facilities as yet, has been inaugurated.

This is the concern which many expressed and one only hopes that the new hospital will start functioning earlier than expected.