New Delhi: A 30-hour long wait in a hospital parking lot for an elderly COVID-19 patient to get a bed in Mumbai is symptomatic of the lack of a centralised database on the availability of beds for coronavirus patients, a city newspaper reported on Thursday.
Maharashtra has the highest number of confirmed cases in India, which has seemingly stretched the limits of the health system as relatives struggle to find beds for newly-identified positive patients.
A report in the Mumbai Mirror said that a 66-year-old woman, with a history of heart problems, was forced to stay in the parking lot of the KEM Hospital in Mumbai for 30 hours, which included a drive to another hospital where she was told again that there was no space available.
As per the son of the women, his mother’s swab was taken last Sunday, as she was feverish. After getting a call on Tuesday at around 11 am that his mother’s test had returned positive, he was instructed to take her to the KEM Hospital.
When the ambulance brought them to the hospital, instead of a team of doctors waiting for them, they were asked to leave the building and wait in the parking lot until a security guard would come and inform them when a bed is available, according to the 36-year-old son.
“My mom was not even checked by a doctor, even a nurse, before we were asked to wait outside. They didn’t even offer her a chair. I somehow found a wheelchair in the premises for her. She spent the whole day and then the entire night in the wheel-chair,” he told Mumbai Mirror.
They spent the night in the lot, tired and hungry as there were no food stalls open around the hospital.
At around noon on Wednesday, the hospital arranged an ambulance to take the woman to Seven Hills hospital – but even there, they refused to admit her.
The coronavirus patient was finally admitted to St George’s Hospital at around 9 pm on Wednesday. Her son then finally left to self-isolate himself at home.
Police personnel stand inside a sanitizing tunnel, set up at a Dahisar police station in Mumbai, April 12, 2020. Photo: PTI
In another case, the Mumbai Mirror narrated that a South Mumbai resident, whose wife tested positive for COVID-19 and was expected to have a baby on Friday, could not find any information from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on which hospital to admit her.
After the result for her nasal swab returned positive on Tuesday, civic officials came and quarantined her in the house. “When I told them about her due date, they said they will find a hospital for the delivery,” the husband said.
However, there were no maternity homes or wards in any hospitals designated for COVID-19 patients. “They checked with Nair, St George’s, JJ, KEM, Rajawadi and SevenHills, but no hospital was ready to admit her. Either the hospitals were full or did not have delivery facilities for Covid-19 infected patients,” he stated.
He finally approached Amin Patel, the local MLA, who rang up some people and finally she was given a bed at Nair Hospital. “How many people can get their MLA to intervene. Shouldn’t the BMC by now know how to deal with such emergencies? Shouldn’t there be a dedicated desk looking into who should be referred to which hospital,” asked the man.
The Mumbai Mirror stated another South Mumbai resident, who tested positive, was refused admission by four hospitals, before being finally admitted at Andheri.
Speaking to Mumbai Mirror, the deputy director of the BMC’s health department, Daksha Shah said that there was still some work left before the consolidated database of available hospital beds for COVID-19 patients can be made public. “It is work in progress. We are also discharging asymptomatic patients to create more space for cases requiring critical care,” she said.