CHENNAI: Robert (name changed) died two days ago. After running from one hospital to another for a couple of days, 59-year-old Robert’s family admitted him into a government hospital in Thoothukudi on May 2. “But we could not find an ICU bed. He had no oxygen. That is the main reason he died,” rued his nephew speaking to Express.
Over the past couple of days, the number of calls to various Covid-19 helplines have more than tripled. Reason: people are unable to find hospital beds, particularly those with access to oxygen facilities. Many volunteers Express spoke to on Thursday said that at least a handful of Covid patients passed away before they could find them vacancies at hospitals.
Robert’s family, who had no choice but to tag along with him on the search for an ICU bed, are grieving helplessly in private under home quarantine. “The whole family was exposed to him. What will we do if someone else starts showing symptoms?” the nephew wonders. Chitra, a Covid positive person from Kolathur, developed breathlessness on Thursday morning. After performing a chest CT on Wednesday, she was told that infection had spread to 50 per cent of her lungs. “My mother is a little breathless. Private or government hospital, I will manage to take my mother if we find a bed with oxygen,” her daughter laments over the call.
Shyamala Sathiaseelan, a volunteer from Chennai Cares told Express that in the past couple of days, at least 10 patients have died as they could not find beds; five died on Thursday alone. “Two weeks ago I received 25 calls a day. Today (Thursday), from midnight to 8:30 am alone, I received 25 calls,” she said, adding that a particular call from a doctor in Puducherry, left her disheartened. “A doctor called me from the GH there saying that no ventilator beds were available. She said she did not want to watch her husband die and not do something about it,” Shyamala said.
She said that on one hand “panic rushers” with mild to moderate symptoms who seek out hospital beds are unnecessarily burdening the health care system. “On the other, there are others - especially those who are vaccinated - who wait until it’s too late to seek a bed,” she said. Sudha Ramamoorthy, another Chennai-based volunteer said that one person was pushed out of a hospital as the hospital was running short of oxygen. “One consumes about 50 litres of oxygen each day. Hospitals are running out of capacity,” she said.
However, Varun, who was looking for a bed for his friend a few days back, found one in private hospital. “I called 104 first. And every few hours volunteers called me to check on the patient status and updated me about every vacant bed I could hurry to,” he said, advising that people should certainly reach out to the government helplines to have the best access to real-time information on beds. “Since all beds in Chennai were filled, I found one in Kelambakkam. Patients who can travel outside the city, can try options there,” he said.
Meanwhile, things are not very bright in Coimbatore either. Government Covid Centres here have been discharging patients on a hurried manner, based on oxygen saturation levels, so as to free up beds with oxygen facility. A 38-year-old Covid patient from Gandhi Managar, who was admitted at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on April 27, was discharged just three days later. However, he was readmitted at another hospital after he faced heavy breathlessness. Currently, he is being treated at the ESI hospital, under critical condition, with oxygen support round-the-clock.
A relative of his, said if the CMCH had given him a proper treatment, the patient would not have faced this severe complication. “Based on his pulse oximeter level that was at around 95, he was discharged from CMCH. But the very next day, he fainted at home due to breathing issues and his oxygen level dropped below 60,” said his relative.
Similarly, a 52-year Covid patient from Pollachi, who was discharged from the CMCH five days ago, died at a private hospital in the city on Thursday. His relatives claimed if CMCH had given proper treatment, he could have been saved. “Even after returning home from CMCH, he was gasping for air. We searched for an oxygen-equipped bed for a whole day, and after he was admitted to a private hospital, he died without responding to treatment,” said G Prakash, a relative of the victim.
Responding to the allegation, CMCH Dean A Nirmala said, “As Covid protocol has been changed, patients are being discharged based on their saturation of oxygen level and not based on Covid negative report. If patient’s oxygen saturation level is over 95 at room temperature, we are discharging them.” She said that a few cases would be unpredictable as there can be complications after discharge.
(With inputs from Coimbatore)