Patients forced to fight coronavirus all by themselves in Coimbatore's ESI Hospital

A senior official at the hospital said that staff crunch made it difficult to deploy attendants for every patient.
Health dept is readying the Covid Care Centre facility at Codissia Trade Fair Complex in Coimbatore | u rakesh kumar
Health dept is readying the Covid Care Centre facility at Codissia Trade Fair Complex in Coimbatore | u rakesh kumar

COIMBATORE: Covid patients without attendants have been facing severe hardship at ESI Hospital in Coimbatore. 

The patients lamented that they were forced to climb down three flights of stairs to fetch every meal and had no one to assist them with their ablutions. 

The food is served on the ground floor, while the Covid ward, with patients suffering from lung involvement of over 20 per cent, is located on the third. 

A 55-year-old patient from Pollachi said that most people in the Covid ward did not have attendants. 

“So, these patients have to fend for themselves. As the hospital staff is not serving food at the ward itself, we have to go down three floors to get our food,” he rued.

“I am diabetic and suffer from breathing difficulties due to Covid-19. Climbing down three flights of stairs could worsen the health condition of patients like me.”

Further, many do not have attendants to help them during trips to the restroom. 

A 38-year-old patient from Ganapathi said that a middle-aged patient went unconscious for more than four hours on Sunday and did not have anyone to clean up after he relieved himself in the bed.

“This caused a stench and there was no one to clean up.”A senior official at the hospital said that staff crunch made it difficult to deploy attendants for every patient.

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