The Lokayukta visit revealed the following issues among many: There is only one toilet for a daily patient inflow of nearly 1,700. Despite medicines being available in the hospital pharmacies, patients are being referred to external sources for them. Additionally, no patient is treated without bribing the doctors, nurses, and other staff members.
Published Nov 30, 2024 | 9:16 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 30, 2024 | 9:16 AM
Lokayukta team made a surprise visit to KC General Hospital in Karnataka. Etv Bharat
A government hospital meant to be a lifeline for thousands is instead a nightmare straight out of a horror story. Bengaluru’s KC General Hospital, where successive governments have poured in crores of taxpayer money in the name of “development,” stands disgraced.
Toilets reeking of filth, resembling open dump yards with their mess fully exposed, paint a picture of neglect no patient should have to endure. Inside the ICU, it’s not just the critically ill fighting for survival—mosquitoes swarm unchecked, turning the space into a breeding ground for even more suffering.
The Outpatient Department? A ghost town, where just one doctor is present—his timing dictated by his own whims, while desperate patients wait endlessly for help that never arrives. Acting on relentless complaints, the Lokayukta’s surprise inspection ripped the veil off this appalling state, exposing a system so broken that it demands answers—immediately.
A team led by Karnataka Lokayukta Justice BS Pati carried out a surprise inspection of the government-run KC General Hospital in Bengaluru’s Malleshwaram on Friday, 29 November, following a series of complaints alleging widespread corruption and staff negligence.
Upalokayuktas Justice KN Phaneendra and Justice B Veerappa also joined the Lokayukta, forming three separate teams, who conducted the inspection. They simultaneously covered different hospital sections, visited wards, interacted with patients, and assessed the availability and quality of services and facilities.
“It’s impossible to even step into the toilets without gagging,” said an official from the Lokayukta team who was part of the inspection team. “How can we expect patients to recover in such an environment?”
Interestingly, it has been only five months since Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao visited the hospital to check its services and see the progress of its upgrade plan. It is saddening that some of the complaints that the minister also noted have remained unchanged.
For instance, the minister stressed that patients should not have to seek medicines outside the hospital. He had also sought a proposal for repairs, fixing broken structures, and enhancing water supply to restrooms and the sanitation system at a cost of ₹9.98 crore. But strangely none of this has been implemented or even changed at the hospital.
“It was found that despite the medicines prescribed by the doctor being available inside the hospital’s pharmacy, the patients were told that the medicines were not available and were asked to buy them from outside the hospital premises,” the Lokayukta officials noted during the inspection.
Can you imagine just one working toilet for 1500-1750 people including patients walking in and out of the hospital?
“Out of the 10 toilets inspected, 6 were found to be unusable due to clogging, overflowing sewage, and the absence of water supply. Even the other four had several problems like there was no water to flush the commodes, broken pipes, and stench-filled bathrooms made breathing difficult,” said a media release from the Lokayukta officials post the surprise infection.
“The women’s toilets were particularly neglected, with no provisions for hygiene essentials like soap or sanitary disposal units. Officials noted that the unhygienic conditions not only posed a threat to patient recovery but also increased the risk of spreading infections,” said an official from the Lokayukta team.
The hospital, which is supposed to be treating patients, was a breeding ground for mosquito-borne inspections.
While the Karnataka health department was busy creating awareness videos on breeding grounds and larvae sites, it seems to have missed this crucial hospital where even the ICU is full of mosquitoes.
Another senior official who was part of the inspection team said, the presence of mosquitoes in three key wards, including the ICU, highlighted a severe lapse in sanitation protocols.
“Patients and their families reported frequent complaints of mosquito bites, some even fearing exposure to diseases like dengue and malaria. The hospital’s waste disposal system and stagnant water near the premises were identified as the primary culprits behind this infestation,” the official said.
While the mosquito issue grabbed attention, it was only the tip of the iceberg. The inspection uncovered deeper problems, including dysfunctional diagnostic machines.
The officials noted that an X-ray machine, crucial for diagnostics, has been out of order for two months, forcing patients to spend extra money at private centres.
The inspection further revealed that nearly 25 patient beds have been damaged, and the ICU lacks a working air-conditioning system. Staff shortages added to the chaos, with nurses managing more than 15 patients each, far above recommended limits.
“The hospital caters to 800–1,000 patients daily but operates with just 60 percent of its sanctioned staff strength, leaving nurses and doctors overburdened,” said an official.
Meanwhile even in the maternity ward, the ECG was not working and the main equipment to conduct a Doppler test (to hear the heartbeat of the fetus) was not functional.
The visit also revealed inefficiencies in patient care protocols. Cases of prolonged wait times and mismanagement of patient records pointed towards a lack of streamlined administrative processes. Officials stressed the importance of digitalising records to minimize errors and improve efficiency.
It was also noted that the staff at this hospital had not been transferred in many years and had continued to work there for an extended period. One of them is even retiring from the same hospital.
Mosquitoes were a common complaint from parents in the children’s ward, which was in an unhygienic state, with overflowing bins and irregular cleaning schedules. Parents feared that their children might contract vector-borne diseases like dengue and malaria during their stay.
The inspection revealed a critical shortage of paediatric specialists. The hospital lacks a dedicated paediatrician on call, leaving junior doctors or general practitioners to handle across departments, struggling to provide the attentive care required for young patients. Of the two ventilators in the children’s ward, only one was working.
The surprise visit followed allegations that hospital staff had demanded a bribe from a patient. It was noted that there were numerous instances of corruption and maladministration at the hospital.
According to a statement issued by Lokayukta officials, Manjula, the caretaker of a patient, had informed them a week earlier that nurses at the hospital had demanded a bribe to admit her sister-in-law, who had arrived late at night in labour. Other patients had reported similar experiences as well.
The Lokayukta officials assured patients and their attendants that the findings from their unannounced visit would soon be compiled into a detailed report, which would include actionable recommendations to improve healthcare delivery.
Sanitation issues:
Staff shortages:
Infrastructure deficiencies:
Equipment malfunctions:
Administrative inefficiencies:
Patient overload:
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
