Karnataka Health Minister's thumbs up for Bowring hospital

Bengaluru: Health and Family Welfare Minister, K.R. Ramesh Kumar, who has been discharged from the government-run Bowring Hospital after three days of treatment for diarrhoea, says he received the best of treatment and blames lack of publicity for more well to do patients keeping away from government hospitals.

“I was treated by the best doctors not because I am a minister but because everyone here is treated the same. The only difference is while  government hospitals are run by doctors , private hospitals are managed by chief executive officers,” he told DC. “I  told the doctors not to treat me any better just because I was a minister, but to treat me as they would any other common man. I was put on IV fluids and some antibiotics for two days and I recovered. Had I got admitted to a private hospital, I would have been advised a series of tests to run the bill into lakhs of rupees.  Unfortunately, government hospitals  are thought to be bad, dirty and manned by staff, who  demand bribes for their services. But they have the best doctors, equipment and staff to treat  the poor and needy. Our government hospitals are not inferior to any private hospital, but the latter outsmart them in sophistication and style,” he added, regretting that it had become fashionable for politicians and officers to go to private hospitals even for small ailments and end up paying fat medical bills.