Read on Twitter
Thread: A relative who struggled to get a hosp. bed in Satara for 15 hrs yesterday is critical today. A thread on the dreadful experience patients have even as the gov is trying to pretend that all is well. @CMOMaharashtra @rajeshtope11 @AUThackeray @AjitPawarSpeaks #COVID19
Patient, a 70 year old with no comorbidity started experiencing breathing trouble since Friday evening. Local doctors put him on O2 support at home and Xray showed Pneumonia. Rapid antigen report for Covid-19 came negative.
Immediate admission was suggested and the family started looking for a bed from 5am on Saturday. All the hospitals they called said that they would not admit a patient without his RT-PCR report. Hosps had only Covid/Non covid wards and no place for a suspected patient like this
Most centres in Satara said that they had completed their daily test quota for RT-PCR by 10am! We finally arranged a test at a hosp in Karad. It took 2-3 hours for the family to find a private ambulance to just take the pt for a test. Again, docs suggested immediate admission.
Hospitals kept insisting on the RT-PCR report which came today. Literally every hospital in Satara turned him down citing this reason. His O2 levels were rapidly falling. The ambulance had to go back home. After I made at least a dozen calls and put out tweets, a bed was arranged
The bed was at Satara Civil Hospital, 80 kms away from the patient's residence. Again, the struggle for an ambulance began. When the family called 108, they were told 'We do not transport suspected Covid patients'. The ambulance arrived at 10 pm and reached the hosp at 12.15
Patient was admitted finally and then shifted to ICU late in the night. Today, he has been put on a ventilator and is currently fighting for his life. Now, his RT-PCR report is negative. But the patient is critical.
Where are those jumbo centres and instant admission protocols? What are these bizarre rules that stop a patient from getting treatment? Mind you, this is after calls were made to ministers, bureaucrats and doctors. What about those who have no such access?
Over the last 2 days, I have heard such horror stories from rural Maharashtra. Of people dying only because they did not get a bed in time. Can we seriously not do anything about it? I hope our elected representatives find this issue significant.
The sheer experience of seeing someone go through this and the feeling of helplessness for not being able to do anything is something that bothers me. Hope our governments and representatives act soon, before more such lives are lost for no fault of theirs. END
This is no way questions the efforts made by the hospital staff at Satara Civil hospital to treat the patient post admission. Under the guidance of senior doctors, they have been doing a phenomenal job. Hats off to them for the commitment shown!
UPDATE: The patient passed away this morning.
