The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is mulling over cancelling the licences of private hospitals that fail to report dengue and other vector-borne diseases in the city to the civic body.
Section 402 of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, makes it mandatory for all medical practitioners in the city to inform the Palike about cases related to dangerous diseases in private or public dwellings in the city.
The Palike would take strict action against erring hospitals, BBMP commissioner Siddaiah told DNA on Wednesday.
Palike officials said the civic authority had sought the government’s permission to take stringent measures — like cancelling licences — against hospitals or medical practitioners who failed to update it about diseases like dengue. “The proposal comes in the wake of some private hospitals announcing deaths due to suspected dengue, without even getting reports from authorised labs to confirm the cases,” an official said.
The Palike had sent showcause notice to the three private hospitals — Tirumala Hospital in Kamakshipalya, Gayatri Hospital in Vijayanagar, and St John’s hospital near Koramangala — for not sending blood samples to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, to get the suspected cases confirmed. A BBMP official said Tirumala Hospital had apologised for declaring that a death was due to dengue without confirming the cause.
“In fact, the death was wrongly attributed to dengue; the cause was something else,” BBMP chief health officer Dr LT Gayathri said. She said the BBMP commissioner had instructed officials to act strictly against erring hospitals.
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