New Delhi: Before I begin to relate here my personal travails to get hospitalisation and treatment as a COVID-19 positive patient at a private facility in Delhi in mid-May, I would like to highlight to readers a much under-appreciated fact: that the medical staff, be it the doctors, nurses, ward boys, and all who are at the frontline, fighting the pandemic in hospitals, are doing a stellar job.
This, in spite of working under adverse conditions. I am one of those people who have seen it from close quarters, and I have only my gratitude to give them. I owe my life to them.
I am an entrepreneur, a resident of Vasant Kunj in Delhi. Here is the chronology of what happened to me.
On May 17, I noticed the first symptoms in me – a slight sore throat and a low fever.
By May 19, it progressed into a high grade fever, about 102-103°F. Since my wife is in essential service (she works with a newspaper), and had to restart attending office in two days, we decided that I should get a test done. Just in case I am positive, she would have to inform her office and get herself tested too.
On May 19 itself, we called up Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj, seeking an appointment for a test. We were told to come between 11 a.m. and 12 noon. By then I had 103°F.
There was a temporary table, and chaos raged all around us as to the papers we needed to submit in order to get the test done. I had to show my Aadhaar card, was asked if I have a doctor’s prescription (I didn’t go for home collection of my throat and nasal swabs for the test only because it requires a doctor’s prescription).
A suspected COVID-19 patient waits to be admitted to a hospital in Delhi. Photo: PTI
What was surprising was, Fortis has its own diagnostic arm, SRL, which was doing the test and charged us Rs 5,100 per test. But there was no standard operating procedure in place for suspected cases. In the parking lot, two benches were put next to the guard’s room and we were made to sit there under the sharp sun for almost two and a half hours. Next to me was a young woman, a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy at Fortis but who needed a COVID-19 negative result to continue her treatment. We were just a few of us and yet were made to wait for long. The test is a 30-second affair.
On May 19 night, I received my result and I was positive.
On May 20 morning, the Delhi state swung into action. The District Surveillance Office (DSO) got in touch with my wife to enquire about my health. The fever was not coming down. She also mentioned that I have a history of mild hypertension. The DSO felt that given my case, I probably would need to be kept under observation. She would arrange for an ambulance and I would be admitted to the LNJP hospital. By that time, due to continuous reportage in media about the conditions in our state-run hospitals I had no confidence in the state of healthcare in them. Also, because I have insurance, I wanted to get myself admitted to a private hospital.
On May 21 morning, I began my search for a private facility. The DSO had told us that by 5 pm if I couldn’t get myself admitted into a private hospital, she would be forced to send me to the LNJP hospital. By that time, she would have to complete her paperwork.
I began calling up Max Hospital Saket, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Apollo Hospital in Sarita Vihar to find a bed. There seemed to be no system in place. If by chance a person at the other end would pick the phone and I asked for my call to be transferred to a desk handling COVID-19 cases, the phone would go dead.
Medics collect test samples in New Delhi. Photo: PTI
Finally, my wife, our driver and I drove down to Max Hospital, Saket. Given that the lockdown had been opened, there was traffic on the road and we reached there after an hour. We were shunted from pillar to post before we finally reached the COVID-19 block of the hospital.
Only I was allowed to enter it. I requested them to check my vitals first because I was caught in the jam for some time and had no idea about my fever, or what my blood pressure levels were. After a bit of struggle, my vitals were checked. My BP was low – 100 by 60 – and the fever was still high. I was told I would probably need ICU hospitalisation. They gave me a package of Rs 55,000 per day. I agreed. All I wanted at that point was hospitalisation and the treatment to start at once. However, after about half an hour, I was turned away because they couldn’t find an empty bed, not in the ICU or even in the ward.
We then drove to Apollo Hospital. It was even more chaotic. Forget the chance of getting a bed, there was no way for a patient to get his vitals checked.
In the meantime, a friend had called the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and found a bed. A personnel from the hospital administration called me, confirmed that it has a bed and they have a Rs five lakh package. I agreed but the problem was, it would need cash payment as an advance. If I remember correctly, the person said Rs 2 lakh had to be paid in cash.
I expressed my inability to get cash because the ATMs won’t give me that much in a day’s time, plus it was already 3.30 pm by then and I didn’t know whether I could reach my bank branch on time to withdraw the amount. Since I was COVID-19 positive, I wouldn’t like to visit a bank either.
I understood that it needed some advance payment; so I insisted that my credit card could be swiped and once the insurance approval comes, it would be smooth, but the Ganga Ram personnel wanted only cash payment.
Meanwhile, I got to know that Cygnus Orthocare at SDA Market had been declared a COVID-19 hospital. By the time I reached there, it was almost 6 pm on May 21. My wife got me admitted, and was told to leave. A doctor came and started taking my blood samples, etc. I was administered medicines to address the fever.
On May 22, I developed breathing difficulties and was put on oxygen. Oxygen cylinders come in various measures, starting from two litres to 14 litres. They began with two litres which went up to six litres. I had laboured breathing but was fine under the oxygen. The doctor had come and suggested more tests.
However, around 5 pm, I noticed that the lights suddenly went off; the monitors that were attached to my body went blank too, and patients outside could be heard screaming. Soon there was a burning smell. The hospital had caught fire.
Within five minutes, a ward boy arrived and asked us to flee downstairs. By then, my oxygen had run out. So without oxygen, I rushed down to save my life. I could only manage to grab my phone and the charger. There was smoke all around.
Portable oxygen cylinders had not been moved out. Two patients, out of about 8 or 9 of us, needed oxygen. So I had to share the oxygen cylinder with the other patient while waiting for about two and a half hours on the footpath. This made it to media reports.
Sameer Singh clicked this photo while lying on the road after the fire at Cygnus Hospital. Photo: Author provided
Confusion continued as to what would happen to us now. Cygnus authorities kept telling us that we would get transported to another COVID-19 hospital. Finally, at 9.30 pm, I got transferred to Batra Hospital. Since Batra had also been declared a new COVID-19 hospital, it was in the process of setting up its SOP when we arrived. To be fair to Batra hospital, I finally got a ward at 11.30 pm. By then, it was almost six hours that I had been practically on the road and in transit and was completely drained out.
The hospital was very efficient though. My doctor, Meghna, conducted a video call with me that night to know my symptoms and instructed the junior doctors accordingly.
On May 23, my X-ray report was not good, showed some symptoms of COVID-19 pneumonia too. By that evening, I was shifted to the ICU. I stayed there till May 30. I needed what is medically called NIV (non-interventional ventilator). For five days, I underwent that therapy. Initially though, since my situation was not good, the doctor had called up my wife to take permission to put me in ventilator in case needed.
In the meantime, my wife tested positive and remained asymptomatic; my 20-year-old son tested positive too but my 14-year-old daughter remained negative. So as per rule, they got quarantined for 14 days. Nobody could come from my home. My brother and my father stay two blocks away from us. Since they were contact traced, they too were put under precaution. So from family, I had no physical support.
Also read: Delhi to Treble Testing in a Week, Get 500 Railway Coaches to Isolate COVID-19 Patients
On May 31, the doctor told me that I could be shifted to the ward. I was still on oxygen but was better. Also, there was a more urgent case and it would save a life. I volunteered that night to be shifted to the ward.
On June 2, the oxygen was removed from me as I began to get better.
On June 3, the doctor said I could be released; and signed my discharge papers at around noon. However, problem began because the PPE kits had been put under consumer items by the insurance company. Typically, consumables in the old days would be syringes, etc. and comprise a minuscule amount of the entire bill. But in this case, my PPE kit bill alone was about Rs 88,000 for 10 odd days at Batra Hospital. It had to be settled before I was allowed to leave.
Sameer Singh, at Batra Hospital. Photo: Author provided
After subtracting the initial advance we had paid, Rs 51,375 was the outstanding amount. The hospital had no mechanism to settle such a matter through a cheque; it wanted cash. The tragedy that happened in my case was that in the fire incident at Cygnus, I lost my wallet which had all my credit cards besides many other valuables.
Because no one from my family could come to me with a credit card, I was at a loss. My brother offered to transfer the money through bank transfer but as per rules, Rs 50,000 at a time was the limit. So Rs 1,375 would remain and the hospital wouldn’t agree to let me go and send that amount from home. Finally, I requested a friend to come and pay Rs 50,000 through his card. Then, I had to reach the top administration of the hospital to finally agree to a delayed payment of Rs 1,375. My total bill came to Rs four lakh.
By the time the issue was settled, the clock had turned 8. The doctors, it was clear, are doing a wonderful job. But at the management level, there is significant fumbling.
Ambulance
I paid Rs 5000 for an ambulance to take me home. The doctor had forbidden me to climb stairs as my lungs were still weak. I had no energy even to go to the washroom. Dropping cured patients by ambulance is also in the government’s COVID-19 protocol.
However, the two persons who drove me home refused to take me to my second floor DDA flat because they did not have enough staff members to lift me up on a stretcher. I was dropped at the foot of my staircase. I had to baby-crawl 35 steps to reach my family.
The writer, reunited with his family. Photo: Author provided
Capping the PPE kit price
Batra Hospital charged me almost what other private hospitals were quoting. For PPE kits, it charged me Rs 88,000 for 10 days but Cygnus, for one and a half days of stay, charged me Rs 48,000 for PPE alone. This, when I was not even in the ICU.
The state has abandoned us. My limited point is, when this same central government, having realised that there was overcharging happening in the price of stents in private hospitals, could cap the price in public interest, why hasn’t it done so for PPE kits? When the government itself is the biggest buyer of these kits, it knows the price.
Also, what is stopping the Delhi government from doing so? The state government, after all, won a massive mandate on the basis of its healthcare and Mohalla clinics.
No compensation
Cygnus Hospital is yet to offer me any compensation for the material I had lost in the fire and also for the trauma it had caused me. There is absolute institutional breakdown in that hospital. I was told that the person I was interacting with is COVID-19 positive and there is no one else I can connect to anymore.
State of healthcare
The last time I went to a hospital was perhaps 25 years ago. I never thought that it could be such an appalling experience.
My 82-year- old father was born in a government hospital; so was I. At 19, I got an appendicitis attack successfully treated at Safdarjung Hospital. My mother had a hysterectomy in early 1990s at the AIIMS.
My children were born in the 2000s in private hospitals. By then, I had lost trust in the state-run facilities.
The whole idea of the public-private partnership was that the private facilities would get prime land cheaper, would be buffering the state-run healthcare system. So those who can’t afford private healthcare through insurance would go to public facilities and vice versa. This would make the economic model viable.
Now, when it comes to this calamity, private hospitals are profiteering. But I feel we are creating villains out of these entities. Their nature is to make profit. Didn’t some chemists charge Rs 2000 for a Rs 150 sanitizer? A mask for Rs 500? Checks and balances are put by the state across the world. State takes cognisance of possible profiteering taking place and comes out with strictures to be followed. It has all the information it needs for it.
When I came back, I did some research and was shocked to know that our doctor to per person ration is worse than that of Sri Lanka and Laos; our hospital bed per person ratio is worse than that of Jamaica and Dominican Republic.
Representative image of medics at a Delhi hospital. Photo: PTI
What we were told was that we would need 90 days of lockdown, the economy would take a partial hit but we are preparing for the storm. Now when I look at what is happening around us, I am forced to ask: What preparation was done?
And if these were the numbers of beds and doctors per person, then the political class knew all along what we would undergo and yet gave us a false sense of confidence.
Or, were they plain incompetent to handle the pandemic?
The narrative that we have internalised or told to us that we are the world’s largest democracy and therefore a soft power, is hollow if the state can’t provide us water, air, education, healthcare, has a broken criminal justice system.
Therefore, it is time the citizenry realises that a democracy is not just participating in a ritual every five years but needs institutional reforms.
Also read: When a News Article Vanishes, We Have More Than Just a Pandemic to Worry About
We have leaders who have the power to bring Indians to their balconies to clank pots and pans, light diyas. They have the power over people to cause change. Not just the Centre, the state government too returned to power with a huge mandate. Why can’t they do more?
When I was in hospital, a Delhi government official would diligently call my daughter, who had to be the family’s caregiver, on a daily basis. But it has been 14 days since I returned home but none has called me to find out what can be made better.
After all, it is my country too and I would like to contribute in a positive manner. I am relating my story here also because once the storm is over, we may not learn a lesson from it. And yet it is an absolute opportunity to do so.
Finally, my message to all persons who test positive is to at once contact the District Surveillance Officer and not keep any information about your health condition. If you attempt to walk into a private facility for hospitalisation on your own, there is every chance that you would die in front of that hospital.
Sameer Singh is an entrepreneur based in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj.
As told to Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty.