The head of the cardiology department at the Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS) at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) will start a fast-unto-death from Friday on the campus to protest against the delay in the allocation of extra beds for the department.

The proposed action by Dr Om Shankar has brought alleged mismanagement in the hospital in the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the limelight.

Shankar told The Telegraph that he had to take such a step after failing to secure an extra 41 beds for his department in the new super speciality block of the hospital for which the central government spent around Rs 400 crore. He said the 41 beds had remained unused for the last two years, denying admission to thousands of poor patients.

He alleged that the present dispensation under BHU vice-chancellor (VC) S.K. Jain and medical superintendent (MS) in-charge Dr K.K. Gupta has neglected the cardiology department.

The cardiology department has 47 beds in the old building from where it is operating now. During the construction of the new block, Shankar said, it was decided to allocate around 90 beds on the fourth floor and half of the space on the 5th floor to the cardiology department.

However, the administration did not honour the decision after the building started functioning. It offered only 41 beds to the cardiology department in the new building with the condition that the
47 existing beds had to be surrendered. Shankar had demanded 41 beds in the new building in addition to the
existing 47 beds.

“Every day, we have 300 to 400 patients in the OPD. The patient load in cardiology has increased 20 times in the last 15 years. It is difficult to treat all the patients with limited beds,” Shankar said.

An email was sent to the VC for his comments on the delay in handing over beds to the cardiology department. His response is awaited.