Hospital Says Lab May Have Asked For It, Will Look Into Matter

Bengaluru:

A patient with high fever was allegedly asked to produce her Aadhaar card at a Bengaluru hospital in order to get tested for H1N1.

The 78-year-old woman was taken to Bangalore Baptist Hospital on Sunday evening, where staff sought her Aadhaar card to send her throat swab sample for the H1N1 test. According to them, submission of the details was mandated by the government, the woman’s relatives claimed.

While the woman’s daughter submitted other ID cards, the hospital allegedly insisted she produce the patient’s Aadhaar. “The woman was suffering from high fever and her daughter had to go back home to fetch the Aadhaar card. What has her Aadhaar number got to do with her health condition? What’s the point of such absurd rules which cause inconvenience to patients,” asked the woman’s relative.

Dr Sindhuja C, microbiologist at Bangalore Baptist Hospital, said patients have to submit an ID proof and it doesn’t necessarily have to be Aadhaar. “Since May 2018, we have been sending samples to Dr Lal PathLabs on St John’s Road. To make sure that the patient gives an authentic address, the lab may have asked for the ID and we followed the procedure. The objective is not to inconvenience the patient. We will re-examine the issue if it has caused any trouble to the patient,” said Dr Sindhuja.

A total of 1,130 H1N1 cases have been reported in the state since January 2018.