Elderly woman in Kolkata suffering from Covid-19, denied admission to hospitals, dies without oxygen

A 77-year-old woman suffering from Covid-19 virtually died without treatment and lack of oxygen in the Jadavpur area on the southern fringes of Kolkata. Her family members kept running from one Government hospital to another but wherever they went, they were allegedly told that she could not be admitted without a Covid-19 positive test report.

The ordeal for the deceased Sandharani Pal and her family members started on Wednesday. Her family members alleged that even after giving her samples for testing at a test centre of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Wednesday, they did not receive the report till late Thursday night.

Meanwhile, Pal’s condition kept deteriorating and she began to experience acute breathing problems. Seeing that she was in immediate need of hospitalisation, her family members kept frantically calling government-run hospitals and the Health Department’s helpline numbers seeking to get her admitted. However, they received the same answer from everywhere that without a Covid-19 positive test report, she could not be admitted.

Desperate to save her, her family members kept running from government hospitals to medicine shops to get an oxygen cylinder. But by the time they were finally able to get one, it was too late. Pal passed away at around 8.5 pm.

“We went all Government hospitals in the city. Everywhere we were told that there is a scarcity of beds and she cannot be admitted unless we produce a Covid positive report. By the time we brought the oxygen cylinder home and put the oxygen mask on her face, she was no more,” said one of her family members.

They said that they received her test report at around 11 pm on Thursday night, hours after she passed away.

However, the ordeal for their family members was yet to be over. Despite repeated calls to KMC authorities, her body was in her room for more than 16 hours. Her family members alleged that the body had started to decompose. Fearing contamination, her neighbors kept themselves locked in their houses.

Pal’s family members were seen waiting at their doorstep for KMC’s officials to remove her body. The body was finally removed by KMC officials at around 1.30 pm on Friday.