Bengaluru: Pay in new currency or cards, says private hospitals

Bengaluru: Those facing medical emergencies are approaching government hospitals, as majority of private hospitals in the city are refusing to accept the old currency notes.

The rules of acceptance do not apply to the private hospitals said an employee of BGS Global Hospital, Bengaluru. “As of today and also tomorrow, we are not accepting any old currency at all. The new currency is required for all services. The extension rules if there are any, only apply to the government hospitals and we are a private establishment.”

Santosh from Vikram Hospitals said that if a patient has to be admitted, they will need to have relevant currency or be turned away. “They either have to pay by card or do a net transfer. We are not accepting any old currency as the rule is only for government hospitals. If a patient without the mentioned requirements is in need of assistance, we have no option but to turn them away.”

Pharmacies accept old notes: To ease the stress on pharmaceutical supply, however, majority of pharmaceutical stores have extended their deadline to accept the old to November 14. We extended it keeping in mind the plight of patients, said an employee of Apollo Pharmacies.

“We have been instructed to accept all currency notes for two more days. The medicines can be bought with the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency in all our stores,” said Mohan, who owns Pawan Medicals in Horamavu.

Though banks and the Union government had assured the customers that all ATMs would work round the clock from Friday, the ATMs were forced shut by around 11 am as they ran out of cash within hours.

Officials of various banks said that on record, the RBI and the Union government have said that there is no dearth of Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 notes. “But in reality, we are not getting enough notes from the RBI. Till last week, we were supplying notes twice a day to all the ATMs. But now we are filling them once a day because of the shortage of notes,” said a manager of a private bank, who didn’t wish to be identified.

Patients from abroad being fleeced
State health and home department have received complaints of problems faced by foreigner patients, who are undergoing treatment in various private hospitals of the city. In one case an African patient undergoing treatment at a private hospital near Electronic city, and his relative were forced to shell out Rs 13,000 to get '10,000 in the denominations of Rs 100 from a local resident. The official said that several patients have faced such a problem.

The government should have taken careful diligent steps to ensure the public was not inconvenienced. This move will only bring back 3 to 5 per cent of the black money. What the government needs to do is take stringent steps and go directly after people who hoard black money. —S.R. Hiremath, activist

As an industrialist, I can withdraw only Rs 10,000. How can you expect us to keep our industries running? Traders will probably go on strike from Monday. If things don’t improve soon then we will have to approach the government.  —S. Babu, co-chairman, ASSOCHAM

The loss to the state because of sudden dip in the business volume due to non-availability of new notes is around Rs 2,000-3,000 crore per day, said a source at the state finance department. “The loss in taxes is around Rs 300-400 crore,” the officer said.

Trade activist and city businessman Sajjan Raj Mehta never faced such a crisis in his lifetime. He said the total business volume has come down by 85% over the last three days. “In the absence of valid denominations, all the business activities have stopped. Business volume has totally collapsed,’ he said.

• None of the ATMs opened beyond 3 pm, while private bank ATMs were shut as early as 1 pm. Nationalised bank ATMs, however, continued to dispense cash till 3 pm as the RBI supplied them extra notes
• As expected, long queues were seen at all branches of all banks Cash exchange was stopped by afternoon, while deposits were being accepted till evening
• All the banks and post offices will remain open on Sunday
• Confusion continued in toll booths over the validity of old denomination notes. Long traffic jams were reported on all national highways
• Bescom, BWSSB will continue to accept old denomination notes