Doctor turns up ‘drunk’ at govt hospital in Kalasa, passes out on OT table

CHIKKAMAGALUR: A ‘drunk’ doctor, who was to perform tubectomy surgeries, dozed off on the operation theatre (OT) table at the government hospital at Kalasa in the district. The incident occurred on Wednesday even as several women, some of them under anesthesia, lay waiting to be operated upon.

On Thursday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, who spoke to reporters near Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s residence, said he has ordered the district health officer (DHO) to place the doctor under suspension and to file a report regarding the incident.

Some of the women had been administered anesthesia and made to wait from morning.

A tubectomy camp had been organised at the hospital on Wednesday and about 15 women had signed up for it. They had been directed to be at the hospital at 8 am and some of them were administered anesthesia. However, Dr Balakrishna, who was supposed to conduct the surgeries, arrived at the hospital in a drunken state only at 3 pm and fell asleep on the operation table.

Then, in dramatic style, the hospital staff started administering intravenous glucose claiming that the doctor’s blood pressure had dropped and that his sugar levels were high. They also immediately shifted him in an ambulance to Koppa.

The hospital staff claimed that the doctor suddenly developed health issues.

Relatives and attendants of the women who had come for the tubectomy surgery vented their ire at the doctor and the hospital staff. The women who had been administered anesthesia were then administered glucose and the taluk health officer assured them that the tubectomy surgeries will be conducted at a later date.

The issue reached the district deputy commissioner and the DHO Dr Umesh, who promised that an inquiry will be conducted and strict action will be taken against Dr Balakrishna based on the findings.

The doctor was shifted to Koppa in an ambulance.

In 2018, a case had been filed against Dr Balakrishna for kidnapping children at the Koppa government hospital.

“We organise a laproscopic tubectomy camp at the hospital Kalasa hospital every month and an anesthetist and gynaecologist are deputed there. As per the information received from the hospital staff, when the first case was taken into the operation theatre (OT), the doctor was not able to stand, he suddenly developed some issues like sweating and chest pain and he was shifted to Koppa”, DHO Dr Umesh.

District Health Officer Dr Umesh said an inquiry will be conducted by a committee.

“The tubectomy camp was conducted on Thursday by deputing another doctor and all patients are doing well. A committee will be set up and an inquiry conducted to establish whether Dr Balakrishna had turned up drunk at the hospital” the DHO added.