Yeddy takes toll on doc’s job

Yeddyurappa's hospital-hopping spree has forced the medical superintendent of Victoria Hospital to take VRS to avoid controversy. His plea was accepted just before Ex-CM shifted there from Jayadeva

Yeddy takes toll on doc's job

The recent victim of this ongoing drama is the exasperated medical superintendent of the Victoria Hospital, where the former chief minister is currently being given shelter.

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B G Tilaku00a0was in court recently over Katta Subramanya Naidu's hospital stay. His decision came after Yeddyurappa's bail application was rejected on Saturday

First it was former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's son-in-law and director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Dr C N Manjunath, who washed his hands off Yeddyurappa and now Dr Balagangadhar Tilak has taken Voluntary Retirement (VRS) to avoid controversy.

Tilak was due for retirement in February next year and is understood to have seen a fresh problem arising in the form of Yeddyurappa as early as Saturday and applied for VRS immediately after the former CM's bail application was rejected and he was remanded to judicial custody.
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Education Minister A Ramdas accepted Tilak's retirement yesterday evening just before Yeddyurappa moved to Victoria Hospital. Tilak had faced heat in the court for keeping under-trail former minister Katta Subramanya Naidu in the hospital.

A senior doctor in the Victoria Hospital said on condition of anonymity, "Victoria Hospital has become a dubious shelter for politicians evading jail term. Doctors of the hospital are coming under undue pressure repetitively. Tilak was tired of all this and took VRS."

Once bitten
The Lokayukta special court, hearing the case of land scam, in which Subramanya Naidu and his son Katta Jagadish Naidu are the main accused, had taken Tilak to task for not providing convincing medical reports to support Subramanya Naidu's hospital stay last month.

After he was remanded to judicial custody, Subramanya Naidu was admitted to the Victoria Hospital with an initial complaint of stomach ache. Later, his hospital stay was extended saying he required surgery for back ache. However, the surgery was performed after obtaining the court permission.

While Tilak struggled to convince the court about this, a group of expert doctors appointed by him submitted a report recurrence of Limphoma cancer that Subramanya Naidu was suffering from.

But, this did not help Subramanya Naidu to get bail, and instead the court allowed him to take treatment under police surveillance.

Last year, Tilak had come under pressure when former minister Haratalu Halappa, accused of raping his friend's wife, was admitted in the hospital after he was remanded to judicial custody. This had resulted in him being questioned by the court and media as well.

Between the lines
Tilak was in Mumbai when this reporter spoke to him yesterday. Although he declined to react on his VRS, he admitted that the pressure of being the medical superintendent of the hospital was getting to him.

"It's true that I was on the hot seat and naturally I felt the heat. However, I would not like to state that as the reason for my VRS," he said.

Tilak however, will assume his new post as director of Sanjay Gandhi Trauma and Rehabilitation Centre after his retirement.

H D Kumaraswamy is understood to have met Yeddyurappa at Jayadeva Hospital late on Monday night to convince him to shift to Victoria Hospital, while assuring him of his party support.

Yeddyurappa was discharged from the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology yesterday and the hospital informed the superintendent of the Central Jail that he had no heart ailments and hence could be discharged.

It referred him to the Victoria Hospital considering other ailments such as diabetes, cough, breathlessness and urinary symptoms Yeddyurappa was suffering from.

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