BHOPAL: A corona patient’s body was left on the pavement outside a private hospital in the Madhya Pradesh capital on Monday night following a hectic back-and-forth runaround involving two private hospitals, prompting the administration to order a magisterial probe into the incident.
The patient, a power distribution company employee, was admitted to the People’s Hospital on June 23 due to renal complications. Over the last few days, the patient developed acute breathing problems and was suspected to be suffering pneumonia, after which his samples tested positive for the virus on Monday.
An ambulance from Chirayu Hospital was sent to People’s Hospital to take the critically ill patient, but a few hours later, the patient’s body was found lying on the pavement outside People’s Hospital around 7 pm.
The People’s Hospital administration said, “In accordance with the Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) protocol, the ambulance from the Chirayu Medical College and Hospital reached, but nearly 45 minutes later, we were informed that they had returned. By then the ICU of our hospital had been sealed for the process of disinfecting/fumigation.”
The ambulance returned later and the staff tried to take a stretcher from the hospital, but the ambulance staff later dumped the body on the pavement outside People’s Hospital.
The hospital claimed its staff wore PPE kit and used a stretcher before trying to revive the patient. According to Chirayu Medical College and Hospital administration, the People’s Hospital had informed it that the patient’s kidneys had failed and that he was on dialysis.
He was also said to be suffering from cardiac and lung problems, due to which an ambulance with oxygen support was sent. He was eventually brought back to People’s Hospital.
The CPR was done outside People’s Hospital and a ventilator-equipped ambulance reached the hospital later from Chirayu Hospital, but by then the patient had collapsed.
Bhopal District Collector has ordered a magisterial probe into the entire incident.
The state on Tuesday registered 343 new COVID-19 cases, including a former Union minister, taking the count to 15,627, while five more persons succumbed to the infection, health officials said.
The former Union minister, a senior BJP leader from the Malwa region, was among those found positive for COVID-19, said an official.
With five more patients succumbing to the viral infection, the death toll went up to 622, they said.
Of them, three died in Indore and one each in Bhopal and Tikamgarh, the officials said.
Of the 343 new cases, the highest 78 were reported from Indore, followed by 61 in Gwalior, 45 in Bhopal and 36 in Morena, among other districts, they said.
A total of 189 persons were discharged from hospitals, taking the recoveries to 11,768, the officials said.
The state now has 3,237 active cases.
The number of cases in Indore, the worst-hit district in the state, rose by 78 to 4,954, while the death toll stood at 249, a state health department bulletin said.
Bhopal now has 3,155 COVID-19 cases, including 113 deaths.
The count of cases in Morena and Gwalior stood at 718 and 644, respectively.
No new coronavirus case was reported from 16 districts since Monday evening.
While infections have been reported from all the 52 districts of the state, two of them did not have any active case as on Tuesday, the health bulletin said.
The health officials said there are 1,262 active containment zones in the state at present.
During the past seven days, Madhya Pradesh has registered 2,034 fresh cases and 50 deaths.
As on June 30, the case count was 13,593 and the death toll 572 in the state.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 15,627, active cases 3,237, new cases 343, deaths 622, discharged 11,768, total number of tested people is 4,27,143.
(With PTI Inputs)