In unfortunate news from the Capital of Karnataka, a 52-year-old man has died at the doorstep of a hospital after 18 hospitals refused to admit him.
The 52-year-old was the owner of a garment shop in Austin Town and was a resident of Nagarathpet. Over the course of two days, Saturday and Sunday, he was taken to 18 hospitals in an ambulance after he complained of breathlessness. All the 18 hospitals turned away and refused to admit him. Along with that, the nephew of the man rang up at least 30 more hospitals only to hear a no from the hospitals.
On Saturday morning, he complained of breathlessness and had a high fever. As per his nephew, they took him to a reputed hospital in Cunningham road which turned them away as it said they were running short of beds. The second hospital too refused to admit him. All throughout the day, they went from one hospital to another to encounter the same result. The nephew said that they fell at the feet of the hospital staff but still they refused. He said,
“At 10 pm, we returned home. By then, we had arranged for oxygen cylinders. After an agonizing night, we took him to a laboratory in Rajajinagar on Sunday morning to get a COVID-19 test done. After the test, our search for the hospitals began. This time, we tried to call ‘powerful’ people. However, nothing yielded. About 8 pm on Sunday, we returned to Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital pleading that he be admitted and showed them the acknowledgment of the samples given for the test. They agreed. Before they admitted him, he died at the doorstep of a hospital.”
‘An Atmosphere Of Fear’
The body has currently been kept at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital mortuary and is awaiting the COVID test result. The family is waiting for the report to take the body for the last rites. The nephew says that his uncle died due to the atmosphere of fear. He said,
“We don’t know whether our uncle was infected with COVID-19 or we lost him to an atmosphere of fear created by the virus. You name all the reputed hospitals, we visited them. They didn’t allow us to enter the building and as soon as we said that there was a case of breathlessness. They said there is no ICU vacant or no vacant bed. We don’t want others to go through this ordeal. The government must find a solution to this.”
