Patients die on pavements outside cramped hospitals
Delhi to wait for 3 more days for oxygen replenishment; Covid situation still critical
Facing a shortage of oxygen, ventilators, and beds, Delhi hospitals are turning away corona-positive patients, who are dying on entrances and pavements.
Denied admission, scores of patients have succumbed to Covid-19, unattended uncared for outside the hospitals. Family members of Kriti Sahni, who is a resident of Vijay Nagar in north Delhi, tried labs for home collection of her samples after she developed symptoms of Covid-19. But she did not succeed.
Sahni visited one after another hospital after she felt breathing problems. She has turned down admission on account of oxygen shortage. Sahni tried all the helpline numbers released by the authorities but failed to connect. She finally lost hope to get help from outside and started following the medication suggested by the doctors.
Despite the Delhi Government and the Centre being involved in a massive operation to stabilize oxygen supply and arrange other critical life-saving drugs, officials said it will take another 72 hours to strengthen the oxygen supply even as the city is reporting over 25,000 cases daily for the past few days.
The fluctuation in demand and supply of oxygen has left everyone in a state of confusion. Even those hospitals that received supply during the day are not sure about the next supply. It has been a never-ending story.
Sahil’s father was refused admission at three hospitals on account of unavailability of bed. His oxygen saturation level was below 80. Sahil frantically kept running across the city carrying his father on the bike, but no luck. His father’s condition started deteriorating and he suffocated to death.
The record surge in Covid-19 cases has brought additional pressure on hospitals and drained available oxygen supplies. The city has been in the throes of crisis for weeks as people are struggling to find beds in hospitals, oxygen cylinders, medicines, injections, and any other requisite support from the Government or any other agency.
In a similar incident, Manvi Mishra, a resident of Wazirabd Village took her Covid positive mother to LNJP hospital on Saturday. She was not even allowed entry beyond gates by security staff and her mother passed away after struggling for breath. “I felt so helpless. My mother denied entry on account of the shortage of beds. She passed away at the gate of the hospital. I have never thought to see the day,” she said.
The situation can be understood as crematoriums here are organizing mass funeral pyres and even people are forced to perform the last rites in open as the crematoriums in Delhi have exhausted their maximum limits.
The aggrieved families questioned the “callous and negligent conduct” of the authorities in extending helping hands to work out the prevailing situation. They blamed the authorities for shirking responsibilities and accused the Government’s “apathy” in handling the situation forming better coordination among various central and state agencies.
The attitude of passing the buck on one another has turned the situation very alarming as many hospitals either receive oxygen supply in a nick of time or put pressure on authorities through the media to get supply before anything tragic happens.
The state of uncertainty the hospitals are faced is reflected by the Ganga Ram Hospital.
The hospital released an SOS message on Monday morning saying it has 104 oxygen cylinders which are used for transferring extremely sick patients from Covid emergency to ICU and from wards to ICU in case of emergency.
“The hospital administration sent these cylinders at different locations three days back for an emergency refill but failed to get it refilled,” it said.
Currently, the hospital is on borrow mode and going through an extremely critical situation. Hospital has arranged two cylinders which are also going to finish quickly. It is getting extremely difficult and risky to shift patients, the hospital said.
Later, in the evening, it said to have received 64 oxygen cylinders refilled. DS Rana, chairman of the Department of Nephrology at the hospital said a tanker with 10 tonnes of oxygen was sent from Jindal Steel, Rourkela by industrialist Naveen Jindal for the hospital.
“We are extremely thankful to Naveen Jindal and many other well-wishers for helping our Hospital,” said Dr. Rana.
The situation of uncertainty has unnerved the doctors and hospital management and they are hoping that normalcy will return sooner than later.