JOIN US74-year-old’s 30-hour ordeal across 2 states ends in Mysuru
It was a horrific experience for the family of a 74-year-old Covid patient from Denkanikote in Tamil Nadu, for over 30 hours and spanning two states to get medical aid, thanks to the prevailing crisis.
S Rajagopal, who was feeling weak and fatigued for nearly a week, was taken to a clinic at Denkanikote, bordering Bengaluru, on Saturday. The doctor there refused to provide treatment.
His son Vivek said, “The doctor asked us to approach a hospital in Hosur. Thus, my father was taken to Gunam Hospital. The hospital turned us away, citing non-availability of beds. By the time we took my father to the government hospital in Krishnagiri, it was 12 midnight. There, he was administered insulin as he was diabetic, outside the hospital building. There were over 200 more such patients being treated for various illnesses”.
“Though Bengaluru was nearer to Krishnagiri, I decided against trying a hospital there, given the crisis in Bengaluru. I shifted my father to Mysuru on Sunday morning, where my sister Vanitha Shalvapille Iyengar resides,” Vivek said.
“His blood oxygen saturation was 93 and pulse rate 76. He was taken to Kamakshi hospital, where samples were collected for RT PCR test. In CT scan, 5% phlegm was found. Thus, doctors advised to admit my father-in-law to a government Covid hospital as it was related to pulmonology. But there was no bed in the government Covid hospital — KR Hospital,” said Rajagopal’s son-in-law Shalvapille Iyengar.
“The next stop was Apollo BGS Hospital, where my father-in-law was subject to Abott Covid antigen test, which confirmed him to be positive. However, he did not get a bed there. We tried over 10 private hospitals for a bed. Finally, he was admitted to Spandana Hospital on New Sayyaji Rao Road on Sunday night,” he said.
Iyengar said, “The sufferings of non-Covid patients are no better. According to the government order, non-Covid patients should receive immediate treatment. But the hospital staff do not accept Covid negative reports that are more than one day old. If a person undergoes a Covid test, the reports take more than a day. No treatment is provided till Covid negative report is received. So, more than a day passes in suffering”.