BENGALURU: Despite real-time bed availability data put up on a BBMP portal (chbms.bbmpgov.in), patients are still losing their lives — Covid and non-Covid alike — with hospitals stating that they do not have beds or ventilators. TNIE is in the know of at least four patients who lost their lives on Wednesday night, and volunteers who tried to help them state that the ground reality is starkly different.
A 52-year-old man from Gurappanpalya, having cough and low oxygen saturation levels, who was awaiting his Covid test result, died waiting for a ventilator in front of St Philomena’s Hospital on Wednesday.
A 57-year-old woman from Pillanna Garden with breathing problem and awaiting her test result, was taken to 12 hospitals and finally passed away around 1 am Thursday. Yet another Covid-19 suspect patient in KC General Hospital had a bed, but was in need of a ventilator. Despite a search in all hospitals for a ventilator bed, she passed away.
A 63-year-old man from Benson Town, suffering chest congestion and partial breathlessness, who had not yet got his Covid test done, died around 3am Thursday. “The real-time data from the BBMP website is of no use. We tried to coordinate to help these patients through the Covid-19 Sahaya Telegram group, set up by the government. We contacted the Department of Information and Public Relations and labour helpline, but no one was able to get a ventilator bed,” said Fathaheen Misbah, a volunteer with NGO Mercy Mission, who was trying to help the patients.
“The shift engineer on 1912 only said they would look into it, and kept asking us to find a bed from our end as well. Meanwhile, the oxygen levels of these patients were dropping. He also asked us for Specimen Referral Form (SRF) ID. None of the hospitals’ nodal officers are available at a time like 3 am to take our calls. If there are so many ventilator beds as per the portal, why can’t I find even one,” questioned Tauseef Ahmed, another volunteer with Mercy Mission.
“The beds portal does not work most of the time. The dashboard shows ICU beds available, but when you look for the hospital, it stops working. If you call 1912, they say there are no ICU beds, but when you tell them the dashboard shows beds are available, they say they have no information. The dashboard looks very rosy but when I want an ICU bed for my patient, it is not available anywhere,” said Dr Harshit Mundra, treating Covid-19 patients in a private hospital.
“The number of ICU beds is much lesser than what the government ordered, which means we are already undercutting a response we should be stepping up on. The portal contact number 080-22660000 was on hold for nearly 40 minutes,” said a doctor from a private hospital. Responding to TNIE’s query, Minister for Medical Education Dr K Sudhakar said, “The government has strictly mandated that all private hospitals reserve 50% of beds for Covid treatment, and taken measures to ensure that no patient suffers without timely treatment.