‘Official process’ lands Covid +ve man in trouble

Gandhi, OGH, King Koti Hospitals need a patient ID for admission; undesignated hosps don’t provide one

A patient who tested positive for Covid-19 at an undesignated private nursing home at Chandrayangutta is not being admitted at Gandhi Hospital as the private unit did not give him the mandatory patient ID.

The patient has complained of breathlessness and low pulse rate, but will have to wait till the official process is completed and he gets the ID on Monday before he can be admitted at Gandhi Hospital.

According to the 50-yearold patient, he had been suffering from fever for five days. He visited Dr B. Uday Chary, general physician at a nursing home in Chandrayangutta. The patient underwent multiple tests including for malaria, dengue and chikungunya, and was finally administered the rapid antigen test for

Covid-19 test at 3 pm on Sunday. He tested positive, and the doctor asked him to rush to Gandhi Hospital but refused to give the result in writing.

The nursing home is not on the list of designated

Covid-19 testing or treatment centres.

The patient immediately contacted Dr Veena of the

Aliabad Urban Primary Healthcare Centre (UPHC) for an official Covid-19 certification.

The doctor had left for the day. The staff at the designated UPHC at Lalita Bagh, Uppuguda, said they cannot conduct tests after 12 noon, and directed him to the OGH or the King Koti Hospital.

In the meantime, the patient’s attendant checked his pulse on an oximeter and noticed the rate had come to 70. The attendant dialled the 108 service, and an ambulance reached at 5 pm.

The driver said he cannot take the patient to any designated government hospital for treatment as he did not have an official ID. He said that he had already carried 39 patients on Sunday from 5 am in Shalibanda police station limits.

The patient was rushed to Osmania General Hospital in an autorickshaw where the staff told him that he could only be tested on Monday morning, and the results would be out after three days as there were hundreds of samples lined up.

The patient then went to the King Koti hospital, where also he was denied admission. He was told to report at 9 am, when he would be tested. If his sample tested positive, he would be shifted to Gandhi Hospital.

The patient was taken to his residence Aliabad and put on an oxygen cylinder that was rented locally. “We have procured two cylinders which can be used for 12 hours. If any unfortunate incident happens to the patient, who is to be blamed,” asked an agitated local.