Refusal to admit patients at hospitals have become the new normal in Bengaluru city. With many videos and reports of patients not receiving medical attention circulating, there is building pressure on the local authorities for answers. A new development in this regard on Thursday has been hospitals refusing to admit patients or send ambulances if they don't have a Bengaluru Urban (BU) code.
Volunteers told Bangalore Mirror that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which is overseeing the allotment of hospitals to patients, is delaying the process of receiving the BU code, which is generated when the patient tests positive.
How is a BU code generated?
Cases have been on a shocking rise in Bengaluru, with this has come hospital refusals to admit patients. This has been one of the biggest worries for authorities since the outbreak. However now reports suggest that the reason behind these refusals could be the BU code in the case of COVID-19 patients.
An officer at BBMP told Bangalore Mirror, that first a Patient (P) code is generated following which a BU code is generated via a software once the ICMR report is received. When there is a glitch in the software, the code needs to be manually generated.
Where the complaint has emerged that hospitals are refusing patients who don't have a BU code, the BBMP says that hospitals have been asked to generate the code in a higher series for the patient in case the BBMP hasn't allotted one yet and needs to be given to the medical officer so that they can keep track of the patient.
The code takes 12-24 hours to be generated once a patient tests positive. The delay in testing and receiving results is another problem being observed due to testing services being overwhelmed with a huge number of cases.
For any patient and suspect COVID-19 cases, it can take anywhere between 4-5 days to receive the results. Hospitals volunteers suggest are denying patients on the grounds of a BU code, even if they do manage to get an ambulance and even where beds are available. BBMP has said that there are solutions being worked out.
