Covid-19 patient finds closed doors in bid to get treatment

For a recent returnee from New Delhi to the city, the worst possible news in the world was when he learnt that he was Covid positive on Friday. The second blow came when he learnt that no beds were available at the city's Covid-19 hospitals.

Sources close to Patient 8837 (as he is now officially known) said he, his wife and two pre-teen children had returned to their apartment in Whitefield on June 12, after being stranded for four months in Delhi and Gurgaon following the lockdown.

By June 17, however, the patient (aged 38) had developed a rash and a fever, which members of the society described as increasing in intensity. “He immediately got tested at Manipal Hospital in Whitefield for Covid-19, and was told on the following day that he was positive,” explained the patient’s wife, Shilpa (name changed).

"Although he begged to be admitted into Manipal Whitefield, he was told to go into home quarantine," she added.

A spokesperson for Manipal clarified that the hospital was following government guidelines. However, this was the beginning of a long ordeal to secure hospitalisation for the patient, Shilpa and others said.

Avinash (name changed), a member of the apartment society where the family lives, said members were in a state of turmoil after learning that Patient 8837 had Covid-19.

"People were in a panic. At one point they were tossing medicine onto the balcony of the apartment unit where the family lived to get them help," he said.

Helplines dead

According to sources, Patient 8837 made repeated attempts to find a bed at various Covid-19 hospitals. “We called every helpline possible and were shocked to discover that none of them worked. Nobody would answer the phone,” Avinash said.

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Shilpa added she and her husband also called Apthamitra, Seva Sindhu and Aarogya Setu helplines, only to be told that an ambulance would be sent. “No ambulance ever came,” she said.

She also clarified that the members of the quarantine health watch had called her and her husband only once and that no follow-up was done.

When the family contacted the Victoria Hospital, they were told the hospital had run out of beds. Dr C R Jayanthi, Dean, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), confirmed this. “We have 440 patients as of now. The available beds are all full. The situation shows no sign of improving because of increasing cases,” she told DH.

When the family tried several other hospitals, including private hospitals newly empanelled to start Covid services, they were allegedly told these hospitals did not have the facilities to treat Covid-19 patients.

Avinash said it was only after contacting a friend with connections to a political party that things changed. “The taluk health officer had the patient admitted in C V Raman Hospital on Saturday,” he added. Another community member expressed shock at the scale of influence required for a Covid-19 patient to get a bed.

“We can only imagine how less privileged patients fare,” she said.