I have so much to write that I don't know where to start. The past 2 weeks have just been spent making calls, doing rounds of hospitals to figure out a bed for my father in order to get a biopsy done. He is a cardiac patient, and doctors suspected cancer based on PET CT scan.

The biopsy was to happen last Monday but on Sunday the hospital where we have been visiting for the past 2 yrs called n said no bed was available even for few hrs as Delhi govt had directed all beds for covid patients.

We were told that in a day or two a bed would be available and biopsy would be done soonest. And so we waited while my father's condition slowly started deteriorating.

We tried to speak to a few doctors elsewhere but we were adviced to get it done from the same hospital as my father was a cardiac patient and they had known his case history for last 2 yrs. Besides beds were not available in any hospital in our neighbourhood or otherwise.

Last Thursday I went and spoke to a oncologist at another hospital in Dwarka-where my parents live. That too had been turned into a full covid hospital but doctor said get a covid test done... If its negative I will try to get him admitted here.

By Thursday evening his oxygen level started dropping n most places in Dwarka were covid hospitals by now. we took him to the only non covid hospital available. And admitted him in emergency. He underwent mandatory covid test Friday noon and kept in isolation with oxygen support

The report took two days to show he was negative. The hospital meanwhile tried to check him for lung infection as he was coughing blood at times and also did cardiac treatment.

Dad was moved to non covid room on Sunday. Since then multiple tests have happened except biopsy because 1. This hospital doesn't have the facility to do it 2. No cancer specialist on board and 3. Dads condition was not stable, they said.

Meanwhile the non covid hospital soon started getting covid patients and there covid positive patients in rooms adjacent to Dad's. Hospital tried to cover it up by saying they were only covid suspects on his floor while nurses and doctor treating dad said.....

He was at high risk as there were covid positive cases around. We were advised to look for a hospital where cancer care could happen. But Delhi has its priorities set only for Covid patients and no hospital really had space or bed for my non covid father.

My parents are also Cghs empanelled and several hospitals outright refused to take him in saying they prefer not to deal with cghs patients. At a top hospital in Gurgaon i was told a doctor doesn't even meet patients who are enrolled with cghs.

Making money in the middle of a pandemic is greater than treating critical patients clearly. Anyway the hospital where I had first spoken to ladt Thursday agreed to take him in provided we give a covid negative report. Taking him in emergency would be risky because of infection

So another round of covid test happened three days back in order to shift him under a oncologist. Test reports are Still not here while my father's condition has gone bad to worse and he is now in the ICU where doctors are trying to revive him.

I belong to a privilege class where a few phone calls helped me get my father a bed in a moderately good hospital. Atleast he got oxygen but our infrastructure is in such a bad shape that covid kya non covid patie nts ko bhi bhao nahi mil raha

What happens to non covid but critical patients in India during a pandemic. No doctor had an answer. Those who need immediate attention? Or in my father's case, recently detected.. Should there be a system in place for non covid patients too? Or hospitals where beds are available

I am sitting outside the ICU as I type this thread and I really would want the state authorities to answer me that shouldn't there be a provision for #noncovid patients. Why make every hospital entertain #covid patients? There are other ailments that need hospital care too!

My father deserves a fair diagnosis and treatment. Even if his cancer had spread. We wasted two precious weeks because hospitals were overbooked due to covid and no one was willing to look at other illnesses. Not the government neither the hospitals.

And to top it all, we have exposed not just my father to infection but the also my mom, me and my husband. My dad has had one vaccine jab and mom has had two... But both husband and I are completely vulnerable at this point of time. We don't have a choice to isolate or stay home

Our hospitals are overbooked and overworked to say the least. But it is the job of the state to demarcate hospitals for #noncovid #critical patients. Right now, my father is being treated in the same ICU as other covid patients. You understand the risk?!

What is this blanket rule that every hospital has to only cater to #Covid patients. The numbers are huge i understand but how will anyone else get any treatment like this?!