New Delhi: A day after it was revealed that an 80-year-old man, who had tested COVID positive, died before a plea filed by his family before the Delhi high court to provide him a hospital bed could be heard by the court, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused certain private hospitals in the city of turning away patients.
In a statement today, Kejriwal said no hospital can turn away a suspected coronavirus patient. “We will pass an order that no hospital can deny a person treatment if they are suspected corona patient. They will have to consider that person as suspect case and start treatment as there is no medicine for corona,” he said.
He said in case of a suspected COVID-19 patient, the hospital staff can wear personal protection equipment but will have to ensure that the patient is tested. “If a person tests positive for corona, then we will work accordingly and if the test is negative then the person will be shifted to a non-corona ward,” he added.
Incidentally, while Kejriwal has repeatedly warned private hospitals against turning away COVID-19 patients, it has had little impact on the ground.
Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain, meanwhile, termed the reports on shortage of beds “misleading” and insisted that “in the last three days, more than 1,000 patients have been admitted to various hospitals.” He added that over 5,000 beds were vacant at present. Jain, however, admitted that the “shortage” being claimed could be due to hospitals not updating the data on Delhi Corona application or giving out wrong information when patients contacted them.
Sting shows hospitals seeking lakhs in advance from COVID-19 patients
In view of a sting operation done by a news channel which showed hospitals demanding advance payments, running up to Rs 4 lakh, for providing a bed, Kejriwal also warned that strict action would be taken against hospitals indulging in “black-marketing of beds”.
The sting also showed several hospitals refusing beds. “We will take strong action against such hospitals and they cannot refuse patients. Some time will be needed to break the mafia who are indulging in it. These few hospitals have political connections but they should not be under illusion that their political masters can save them,” he added
Kejriwal’s statement came at a time when a large number of people are taking to social media and also moving court to highlight how they are not getting beds for their COVID-19 positive relatives or how they had lost a loved one due to the denial of this basic facility.
Man dies of COVID-19 due to denial of treatment
The case of Motiram Goyal, whose family moved the high court on Wednesday to seen directions to the Delhi government to provide him a bed with ventilator in a government hospital, but who died before the court heard the matter two days later, exposed the fallacies in the functioning of the government, hospitals and judiciary alike.
Though the Delhi government counsel told the court that they had arranged a bed the day they received an application and that he had died by the time they called him, questions are being asked as to why he could not get a bed in a Delhi Government hospital and was kept without treatment in a non-COVID designated private hospital despite his family’s repeated pleas that he be shifted to a government facility. Despite it being a case of medical emergency, the matter was also not heard the same day.
Anil Goyal, son of the deceased, was quoted as saying that Motiram was admitted at Jain Hospital at Vikas Marg on May 25 as he had high blood pressure and was not recognising the family. On May 31 he tested positive for COVID-19. As the hospital was not COVID-19 designated it asked the family to shift Motiram. The family then tried getting a bed in a government family through the Delhi Corona app but found it of no use as all hospitals denied them admission despite the app showing beds available with them.
Anil said the family also called Central and Delhi government helplines, e-mailed Kejriwal, wrote on social media and approached the high court, all to no avail.
Another woman claims she lost father as he was denied admission
In another case, a woman took to Twitter to claimed that she lost her COVID-positive father as he was denied timely admission in a Delhi government hospital. Amarpreet Kaur wrote: “My dad is having high fever. We need to shift him to hospital. I am standing outside LNJP Delhi & they are not taking him in. He is having corona, high fever and breathing problem. He won’t survive without help. Pls help.” An hour later, she again tweeted, saying, “He is no more. The govt failed us.”
As her tweets got circulated widely, authorities at LNJP Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility, denied the charge and claimed that the patient was “brought dead”.
Meanwhile, the tally of COVID cases reached 26,334 in Delhi on Friday with there being a total of 15,311 active cases. The death toll due to the coronavirus reached 708 with 25 more people losing their lives during the past 24 hours.