KASARAGOD: On Friday, a disturbing video of four persons in PPE kits carrying a suspected COVID-19 patient allegedly on a sack and transporting him in an open pickup truck to a hospital went viral on social media.
Xavier Vettamthadam alias Sabu (57), a native of Kooramkundu in Kinanur-Karinthalam gram panchayat, did not survive the journey.
His family said they called the Corona Help Desk in the district headquarters for an ambulance but were not provided one as Sabu was not on the list of COVID patients. Kinnaur-Karinthalam panchayat does not have an ambulance.
Sabu's wife Annie Xavier tested positive for COVID-19 on May 3. "But health officers told her husband and daughter that there was no need to get tested but they should remain in quarantine," said Annie's brother-in-law Saji George.
On Thursday afternoon (May 13), Sabu started having trouble breathing. "He was not able to talk," he said.
George said he started trying for an ambulance at 3 pm. "When I called 108 Ambulance, an executive asked me to contact the Corona Control Cell," he said
When he called the Cell, George alleged, the executive refused to assign an ambulance saying Sabu was not listed as a patient. The executive asked George to contact the health inspector of Kinanur-Karinthalam and shared the official's number with him.
When The New Indian Express contacted the official in charge of assigning an ambulance, he said the Cell got a "vague" call enquiring for an ambulance and hung up. "The caller did not even identify himself or the need. He just asked if an ambulance was available for non-COVID patients. When the person who attended the call said an ambulance was available only for COVID patients and their primary contacts, he hung up," said the in-charge of 108 Ambulance distribution.
George said the executive was lying. "I told him Annie chechi's positive status and also reminded him about the incident in Punnapra where two volunteers transported a patient on a motorcycle and asked him to avoid such a situation," he said.
George said there was an ambulance parked in front of the primary health centre at Vellarikkundu, 3 km away, in Balal panchayat. "It could have been arranged," he said.
An official of the Vellarikkunndu PHC said it was an 108 Ambulance which could be deployed only on directions from the Control Cell. "It is stationed here but we have no control over it," he said.
Silvi Joseph, the Congress member of the Kooramkundu ward in the LDF-dominated panchayat, said the news of Sabu's body being carried in a sack is false. "His wife had given a new mattress," she said.
The member, however, said they were forced to take him to the hospital in the neighbour's pickup because there was no ambulance available in the panchayat. "I called many ambulance drivers but all of them were shifting patients," she said.
She said an ambulance cannot go up to Sabu's house because he did not have a motorable road. But George said an ambulance can drive up to the neighbour's house, 50m away. "The main road was 700m down. But all these things will matter only if an ambulance is assigned," he said.
The Kinnaur-Karinthalam health inspector said he was in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. "But before I could make some calls, I was told they left in a pickup," he said.
As no ambulance was available, Silvi said, she sent the ward's COVID volunteers to go to the primary health centre at Vellarikkundu and get four PPE kits for them to wear and transport Sabu to the hospital. "We did not have time to spare," she said.
Sabu's younger brother Sibi, his neighbour Sabu Niravathu, and the two COVID volunteers Athul Tommy and Rommy Roychan got into the PPE kits and took him to Nileshwar Taluk Hospital, 30km away. "In hindsight, we think the pickup was the better choice because the road from Vellarikkundu to Bheemanady was under construction and would have slowed down an ambulance," said Silvi.
At the Taluk Hospital, the staff ran an antigen test and found Sabu was negative. They arranged an ambulance and sent him to the District Hospital in Kanhangad, a further 10km away. By that time, Sabu was dead.
His family said they were not aware if the District Hospital did another test to confirm his COVID status.
Multiple calls to the superintendent of the District Hospital went unanswered.