ADILABAD: Covid-19 is wreaking havoc on RIMS Hospital in Adilabad district, making patients suffer.
There is an acute shortage of beds in the RIMS (Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences) Covid-19 isolation ward.
Private ambulances are collecting between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 to shift Covid-19 patients to the graveyard in the town, as government ambulances are out of order.
At RIMS, due to a shortage of doctors and staff, hospital officials are neglecting Covid-positive patients undergoing treatment at isolation wards.
A total of 83 patients are undergoing treatment in isolation wards, and about 5-6 staffers per shift are required.
However, that many staffers are not available.
Family members of a patient who tested positive say they couldn’t get a bed as all beds on the second floor of the Covid ward they were allotted were full, and it was not possible to find a bed unless any patient died.
They said there was a lack of ventilators too. Even basic aspects, like breakfast or maintaining hygiene, were not taken care of in the ward, they said.
In another shocking lapse, ambulances are not available to people who die of the virus at the hospital.
As a result, private ambulances are taking advantage of the situation and collecting between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 to shift bodies from the hospital to the graveyard or the crematorium.
Apart from this, even hospital staff are collecting bribes to shift bodies from wards to the mortuary. RIMS director Banoth Baliram Naik said one of the reasons for the staff shortage was the high number of patients in the ward — 83.
He said a total of 100 ventilators and 400 beds with oxygen supply were available at the hospital.
He said another reason for the shortage of staff and doctors was that many of them had tested positive and were undergoing quarantine for 14 days.
However, Naik denied allegations of shortage of beds and ventilators, terming them baseless.