The distraught family finally got help upon the intervention of Karnataka’s top official, Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, after thebengalurulive brought the issue to his notice.
The deceased, a heart patient, was turned down by hospitals in the absence of a Covid-free certificate. Her Covid test came positive after her death, and body lay in icebox on road till BBMP responded
BENGALURU:
Another sorry tale of failure of the administration was witnessed in Bengaluru as a heart patient was not only denied admission by several hospitals but, adding insult to injury, following her death from a cardiac arrest, no ambulance facility was forthcoming to shift the body to a mortuary.
The distraught family finally got help upon the intervention of Karnataka’s top official, Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar, after thebengalurulive brought the issue to his notice.
It all happened after a junior BBMP staffer called thebengalurulive on Saturday night and narrated the woes of the deceased’s kin staying in HBR Layout. The staffer, who wished to remain anonymous, connected us with an ASHA worker who narrated the entire episode of the family’s futile bid to get the patient admitted to a hospital and, post her death, to shift the body to a mortuary.
Thereupon, thebengalurulive sent a detailed WhatsApp message on the incident to the Chief Secretary and sought his intervention as all the efforts of the family members and neighbours had come to nought.
In turn, the Chief Secretary forwarded the message to the BBMP Commissioner and directed him to have the body shifted to a mortuary. This set the BBMP machinery in motion on Sunday.
In the meantime, the situation changed on Sunday morning as the deceased’s Covid report came positive. With no ambulances willing to come to the family’s house, the body was kept in an icebox in the middle of the road (see pictures) till BBMP came into the picture.
Young facilitator
In this entire sorry tale, a local youth, 21-year-old Vishal Kaushik who is a final-year engineering student of Reva University and student council president of ELITE Council School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, became a communicator between officials and the deceased’s family. Ultimately, Dr Sunita of BBMP took the initiative to ensure that the body was cremated at the Hebbal crematorium on Sunday evening.
According to Kaushik, 55-year-old heart patient ‘Radha’ (name changed) was a housewife who was married to a carpenter. The couple lived in a single-room house with their daughter, who is a kidney patient and on dialysis.
On July 2 at 1 am, Radha suffered chest pains and was rushed to a hospital in a neighbour’s car as no government or private ambulance responded to their calls.
Radha was taken first to the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, but she was asked to produce a Covid-negative certificate to get admission. She was then taken to Bowring Hospital in an autorickshaw, where she was refused admission and directed to K.C. General Hospital, where yet again she was denied admission.
Finally, the family got some financial help to get the Covid test done at Apollo Hospital in Malleswaram at 10 am on July 2. The patient returned home at 2 pm the same day.
Neighbours’ panic
On July 4, ‘Radha’ died following a heart attack. Again, various hospitals turned down the family’s pleas for an ambulance to shift her body to the mortuary, demanding a Covid-negative report.
Post the Covid-positive report on Sunday, the body was kept in an icebox in the middle of the road, leading to panic among the neighbours. The sorry saga ended with BBMP coming into the picture and shifting the body. Subsequently, two of the deceased’s family members have been directed to quarantine themselves.
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