Bengaluru: When the Karnataka Minister for Health and Family Welfare K R Ramesh Kumar urged doctors at government hospitals to provide better treatment for patients to stop them from going to private hospitals for treatment, it opened a Pandora’s box of grievances from all quarters.

Patients, doctors working in government hospitals and the ones working in private hospitals, all have positive inputs regarding an issue that concerns them on a day-to-day basis.

“I couldn’t agree more with the minister when he asks doctors to do a better job, so that we don’t have to turn to private hospitals for relief. The biggest grouse against the public healthcare system is that most doctors don’t adhere to time, the queue outside their chambers just keeps increasing. Lack of accountability, and service in lieu of money, which is common in private practice, is absent,” says RupamaPalit.

Public hospitals have quality doctors, who lack drive sometimes or are just overworked. Dr Ranjan Devar, Prashanth Nursing Home, Bangalore, says,“Public hospitals have less doctors and more patients visiting. They work with less assistants and interns, and are therefore overworked. So, the zeal dies out when you are required to meet quantity over quality. They also make less money.”

It is an observation that Dr Mukut Bhowmik also shares, “Government hospitals deal with very complicated cases, have patients coming in flocks from villages and nearby towns. Private hospitals, by virtue of their fees, filters out many such patients. But private hospitals have doctors and equipment to serve in an organised manner.”

Giving another perspective, Priti Roy, healthcare administrator, says, “AIIMS is known for its world class treatment. Private players dupe you into tests and procedures to meet their targets. They are ruthless and wouldn’t declare the dead until they can churn out some extra money out of him,” she concludes.