A man in his early 50s, suffering from coronavirus symptoms, allegedly died due to the lack of hospital beds and ICUs in the Bengaluru. The patient visited 18 hospitals in the city but had to return home after none would admit him due to a shortage of beds.
This is the second instance in three days of a Covid-19 patient dying after being denied admission by hospitals in Bengaluru city.
The tailor, a resident of Cholurpalya, near Magadi Road, had fever, cold and cough, a female family member told media. On Friday, he voluntarily gave his throat swab for a Covid-19 test and on Sunday morning, the private lab messaged him that he had tested positive. Rules stipulate that the lab should not inform the patient directly; instead, it should upload the details on a portal from where authorities — BBMP in this case — will get in touch with patients.
“Our ordeal began as we called many private hospitals seeking to admit him, but each one turned us down, saying they needed a letter from BBMP. He isolated himself in the house but over two days, we couldn’t find a hospital that would admit him,” she said.
The man had locked himself in a room on the first floor the house to stay away from his family.
Over two days, there was no call to the patient or family from the local authorities either.
Around 10pm on Tuesday, family members decided to break open the door as he was not responding to their calls. “We found he had collapsed on the floor. We called an ambulance, but it took two hours to reach our house. We hoped Victoria Hospital would take him in. But the guard and staff did not open the gate even after we told them he was a critically ill Covid patient. They said they can only admit him if BBMP hands over the positive report to Victoria Hospital,” the tailor’s relative said.
While his family was pleading his case, the tailor was battling for life in the ambulance. “We fought and begged them to let us in but to no avail. Around 2am, he died as he could not breathe,” said the tailor’s son-in-law.“We did not have an option but to stay at the hospital and the body was in the ambulance till 12.30pm on Wednesday. We ran from pillar to post to get a report from BBMP, in vain. Later, deputy CM Ashwath Narayan called BMRCI staff, who prepared the body for cremation. We are yet to get the Covid report from BBMP officially,” the son-in-law said. The patient was cremated in the evening.
