All about cricket crazy fans who have booked hospital rooms ahead of India-Pakistan match

Hospitals in Ahmedabad are seeing a rise in enquiries for full health check-ups, for the month of October, and the reason behind it may sound stranger than fiction. The rise is due to the upcoming India vs Pakistan Cricket World Cup match that will be held in the city on 15th October.

Most hotels in the city are fully booked already, and prices of the few remaining rooms have soared to as high as Rs 50,000 for a night. So cricket-crazy fans are exploring this unique way to get a place to stay.

"For the past 1 - 1 1/2 week we have got 4 such enquiries. In Sterling Hospital there is a healthcare check-up package where overnight stay is included and we already have such a package and enquiries have come for this particular package. People said that they wanted to come on 14th October, that's when we realised that this enquiry is happening due to the cricket match," said Dr Nikhil Lala, Group Medical Doctor, Sterling Hospital.

Hospitals realised that there was something strange about these enquiries as everyone wanted a booking for October 14, a day prior to the match between India and Pakistan. Most of the enquiries came from NRIs. "They are not getting hotel rooms and even if they are getting it they are very expensive. So they thought why not take a chance and get two things done simultaneously by getting a full body check-up and getting an economical stay? They say that we can do the health check-up in the morning then they can go to see the match and then we only have to sleep in the night and leave the next day. That's when I realised that it is a match fever and due to this such thing is happening," said Dr. Paras K Shah, Sexologist, Sannidhya Hospital. 

Hospital authorities stated that patients are their top priority, so they are being careful with hospital room bookings. "Currently we had to close down queries. We had to close down the booking of our golden wing and the crown wing which have our special rooms because we had to look into the capacity of the services with the rooms included in it. We have day packages in which you can come in the morning and leave by evening. We feel that due to the India-Pakistan cricket match people are coming from outside and booking here," said Dr Niraj Lal, Chief Operating Officer, Apollo Hospital.