Patients Stranded Due To RTC Strike

Hundreds of patients seeking immediate medical treatment in Hyderabad were badly hit due to the ongoing RTC strike in the Telangana region.

While many patients are unable to reach the state capital due to the RTC bus strike, others are being forced to pay exorbitant amounts to private transport operators to reach here for medical treatment.

"For 2 days we have not had access to any form of transportation, and finally, we paid Rs. 3,000 for an Ambassador car, to reach the city," Y Subhash Chanderbose, a resident of Devendar Konda in Nalgonda district said on Wednesday. Subhash, along with his wife Sunita Devi, brought their 2-and-a-half month daughter Seema to Niloufer Hospital. Seema has stomach and liver infection, and needed immediate medical treatment.

Similar is the story of M Narasimha Reddy of Yaprapally village of Khammam. His 82-year-old father Krishna Reddy has been in Yashoda Hosital at Malakpet for the last 9 days. Narasimha Reddy has run out of cash, does not have an ATM card. He needed to go back to his village to more money for his father's treatment, but the strike has left him stranded.

"I have no option but to beg for money on the city roads," said Khatija Begum, whose 2-year-old son is admitted in Niloufer Hospital for liver infection. Khatija hails from Armoor in Nizamabad district, and needs to go back to her home to get more money.

Several patients are stranded in the city, as they are unable to return to their home-towns due to the RTC bus strike.

Mohammad Ali of Srisailam got his 12-year-old son Mahmood treated at the Osmania General Hospital for a leg injury. However, he is now unable to return home, and has been living outside the OGH for the last 3 days, waiting for the strike to end.

Another patient, 57-year-old Laxmi Devi of Bhainsa, who was admitted in a private hospital for 27 days for throat cancer, is now being forced to live in the open at the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station for the last 2 days.

"We are waiting for the strike to end. We don't have money to hire private vehicles. We don't even have any relatives in the city," she said.

While there are hundreds of cases of patients and their relatives being rendered immobile in the city, there are even more patients in the districts waiting for the strike to end so that they come to Hyderabad for treatment. (INN)