Bengaluru: "I had to pay seventy thousand rupees for the same procedure at another hospital in the city and it was very difficult to arrange that much money," says sixty-year-old Rammanah C, who was in the city for treatment of post pneumonia complications. He had inflamed lungs and fluid and pus in the lungs.
Rammanah is from a remote village in Chitradurga. He came to the city a few months ago, desperately looking for affordable treatment for his chest complication. "I was disappointed when the operation did not help me or even slightly improve my condition. I could not spend any more money," adds Rammanah.
He was later referred to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Health Sciences (RGUHS), for treatment. "Rammanah was referred to us for a major thoracic procedure after undergoing intercostal drainage at a private clinic in the city. His diagnosis was a post pneumonia complication leading to the formation of pus (Empyema)," says Dr. Shashidhar Buggi, Director of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) and SDS Tuberculosis Research Centre.
Luckily, he was admitted to the hospital under the CM’s relief fund, where his treatment cost was nil. "We did a simple procedure called intercostal drainage which took only ten minutes," says Dr. Buggi. “The same treatment would have cost him around Rs 3 to 4 lakhs at any other private hospital” said Dr. Buggi. Rammanah has been discharged and is doing fine.
