WARANGAL: In a shocking incident, a 75-year-old Covid positive patient in critical condition, who was denied admission in about five private hospitals due to shortage of beds, breathed his last on the premises of MGM Hospital in Warangal, late on Thursday night. According to sources, the man died while he was waiting to get admitted at MGM. The victim has been identified as Modha Vishwanath, a resident of Pedda Pendyala village of Dharmasagar mandal in Warangal (Urban) district.
Meanwhile, the incident has brought to fore the lack of transparency in information about availability of beds at private and government hospitals in Warangal city.Speaking to Express, Modha Ramesh, son of Vishwanath, said that soon after his father’s condition deteriorated on Thursday night, he and his family members started searching for private hospitals to get Vishwanath admitted.
“Since Thursday evening, we were searching for a bed. Though we knocked the doors of at least five private hospitals in search of an ICU bed, they all denied admission to my father citing shortage of beds. Finally, we took him to MGM Hospital. Though we begged the staffers to admit him, the hospital authorities refused to do so saying that the situation was same in MGM as well. My father kept on saying gaali aadataledu, nannu kaapadu (I am unable to breathe, please save me). Due to the delay in response, my father died without getting treatment on the hospital premises. They only helped us pack my father’s body,” a devastated Ramesh said.
He further alleged that the negligence of doctors and medical staffers killed his father. “The State government is making false statements on the availability of beds in hospitals. The ground reality is completely different and pathetic in Warangal city,” he added. In another incident, a 50-year-old woman, a resident of Warangal, who had tested positive for Covid and admitted to MGM in a critical condition, died while undergoing treatment on Thursday night. Her family members staged a protest in front of the hospital alleging that the woman died due to negligence by hospital staffers.
Meanwhile, though the MGM Hospital authorities are updating the dashboard on bed availability on a daily basis, the figures seem to contradict the claims of the hospital staffers.On Friday, the hospital officials released a report stating that currently 499 Covid patients were undergoing treating in the Covid ward and 108 in the Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) ward. In total, 607 patients were undergoing treatment at the hospital and the number of vacant beds was 193, after 96 persons got discharged.When Express contacted MGM Hospital superintendent Dr K Nagarjuna Reddy, he was not available for comment.
Bandi Sanjay inspects MGM Hospital
Warangal: State BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar made a surprise to the MGM Hospital on Friday. Apart from inspecting the infrastructure facilities at the hospitals, the Parliamentarian also interacted with patients and enquired about the treatment being provided to them. After the inspection, Sanjay Kumar stated that the facilities at the hospital were not sufficient to meet the requirements of Covid patients. Speaking to the media, Sanjay Kumar alleged that the condition of Covid wards in MGM was worse than those in normal hospitals. He also slammed the State government for fudging the number of Covid deaths