Bangalore: It was an experience that left him both rattled and fuming. When film expert George Kutty returned last week from Colombia, he was stopped at immigration at the Bengaluru International Airport for not getting the yellow fever shot, a prerequisite for those returning from many African and South American countries.
What followed was nothing less than an ordeal for the 62-year-old Bangalorean, angered by what he calls the “farce” of the quarantine process that followed. In the middle of the night, immigration insisted he be sent to a private hospital in Ulsoor to be quarantined for six days (as he had already travelled for three days, he would have had to stay put in isolation for three more).
Mr. Kutty says that the rule itself is “archaic” and one that smacks of “racism”. But, even if that is the rule, he asks, of what use is it if the only purpose is to make people pay an exorbitant amount as hospital fee for the quarantine period and then send them back home.
The hospital issued him a bill for Rs. 10,000 (with a waiver of Rs. 3,000), which included bed charges, nursing charges and resident duty doctor fee for facilities he never used.
24/06/13 The Hindu
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What followed was nothing less than an ordeal for the 62-year-old Bangalorean, angered by what he calls the “farce” of the quarantine process that followed. In the middle of the night, immigration insisted he be sent to a private hospital in Ulsoor to be quarantined for six days (as he had already travelled for three days, he would have had to stay put in isolation for three more).
Mr. Kutty says that the rule itself is “archaic” and one that smacks of “racism”. But, even if that is the rule, he asks, of what use is it if the only purpose is to make people pay an exorbitant amount as hospital fee for the quarantine period and then send them back home.
The hospital issued him a bill for Rs. 10,000 (with a waiver of Rs. 3,000), which included bed charges, nursing charges and resident duty doctor fee for facilities he never used.
24/06/13 The Hindu
