Hyderabad: Unwilling to be held responsible for their deaths, private hospitals are referring H1N1 patients to government hospitals when they are reaching critical stage. This has been brought to the notice of CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao who asked the hospitals to desist from such practices.

Mr Rao said patients should first opt for government hospitals and private hospitals should only be a back up option. However, the Gandhi Hospital is full and there is a need to make space in Fever Hospital and Osmania General Hospital.

Meanwhile, patients are being brought from private hospitals in critical conditions and are dying in government hospitals. Three deaths in Gandhi Hospital have been recorded wherein patients on ventilator support were brought in.

The most striking was the case of a 28-year-old man from Nizampet who was brought in a very critical condition on January 14. He was in Gandhi Hospital for only 10 minutes and succumbed. He had been diagnosed with H1N1 on January 12.

A senior doctor said, “While private hospitals are agreeing to take the responsibility of treating the patients, they are not willing to accept the responsibility of death.” This issue has been raised even by government doctors in their meetings and corporate hospitals have been asked to stop the practice.

While private hospitals state that the virus is not as virulent as it was in 2009, government doctors claim that there is a need to be cautious. The number of cases could have been controlled if health camps and medical awareness programs were carried out earlier.