Many private hospitals in Calcutta are rescheduling the dates for surgery or other procedures of patients from Bangladesh if they fail to turn up on the scheduled day because of the trouble across the border, officials at the healthcare facilities said.

At times, the officials said, the hospitals are offering them dates by jumping the queue.

Officials at several hospitals said they have noticed that most patients from Bangladesh who are still coming to the city for treatment want to complete the surgery or other procedures during their ongoing visit.

Earlier, a large section of patients from Bangladesh visited a consultant in the OPD, took note of the expected cost of the procedure or surgery and returned home.

They would come back later after arranging the money for the surgery or the procedure.

The patients are now asking their relatives in Bangladesh to transfer money to their accounts online or are coming with sufficient cash so they do not have to go back before the surgery.

“They are uncertain about whether they would be able to come to India for a second time. There is a fear that the India-Bangladesh border could be sealed for a few days. Hence, they do not want to delay any unavoidable procedure or surgery,” said Sudipta Mitra, the chief executive of Peerless Hospital.

“If a patient from Bangladesh fails to come on the scheduled date, we offer them the date when the doctor is available next for the surgery. We are not making them wait in the queue,” he said.

The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, which used to treat many Bangladeshi patients, is following a similar policy.

Mohammad Ariful Islam, from Bangladesh’s Tangail, arrived in Calcutta on December 4. The 37-year-old man underwent a kidney transplant at the RN Tagore hospital in 2018 but recently developed some complications.

“We have a health visa for six months. I want my husband to stay in the hospital for a few days so that all his problems are looked into during the current visit,” said Islam’s wife Moli Akhtar.

“We did not face any difficulty in coming to Calcutta this time. People are saying there could be difficulties in coming back again but we have to come because of follow-up treatment,” said Moli.

R. Venkatesh, the group COO of Narayana Health, which runs the RN Tagore hospital, said the number of Bangladeshi patients is so few now that it has become easier to reschedule surgery dates.

“We are offering them dates according to their wish. Earlier, if a patient missed an appointment, they would have to wait several days before getting another appointment,” he said.

“About 300 Bangladeshi patients would come to our OPD daily. The count started dropping in August following the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In the last two weeks, with fresh unrest there, the count has dipped further. We are getting about 80 OPD patients daily,” said Venkatesh.

At Peerless Hospital, only about 30 patients from Bangladesh are coming to the OPD every day. Earlier, the number used to be about 150.

Richa Singh Debgupta, the chief of strategy and operations at Fortis Healthcare, said they have witnessed a 80-90 per cent fall in the number of Bangladeshi patients visiting the hospital.

All the officials, however, said they hope the numbers would go up again.