The media today is crying hoarse about the suicide by a couple allegedly after the tragic death of their child with Dengue. The media is blaming the private hospitals for refusing admission to the child and attributing the death to refusal of medical care to the unfortunate child. Although, I work in a private hospital, the reason for my writing is not to defend the hospitals but to bring out certain hard facts. Private hospitals work for profit and Dengue is not a loss-making ailment for the hospitals, as some may think.
They would not shy away patients with Dengue for reason of profit. Platelet transfusions cost a fortune and no hospital is unaware of such profits. Dengue does not spread like H1N1 Influenza and so hospitals don’t even need isolation areas, which are expensive to maintain. In fact, I have heard nursing home owners comment about how their nursing home flourished during…
