Four hosps, 50-km ride but patient dies

KANPUR: At the two-room house in Shuklaganj’s (Unnao) Sitaram Colony, Govind Pandey, 42, recently complained of restlessness and breathing issues before he began losing consciousness. He was in need of urgent medical attention.

For years he had been a tuberculosis patient and later developed asthma. The family relates that his medication got disrupted during the lockdown and the doctor treating him in Shuklagunj, Unnao, was not taking calls. His nephew, Himanshu, with the help of locals, managed to get him to ride pillion on his motorcycle and took him to two local hospitals. “Two private hospitals I visited asked me to get my uncle’s Covid test done and that treatment would begin only after the report came negative; no matter how much I argued the staff did not relent,” said Himanshu, choking with emotion.

It was a time to make a decision. Take Pandey to adjoining Kanpur in the hope that he would receive treatment. But when he crossed the old Ganga bridge, the police refused to let him through. The bridge had been sealed at both ends after one person from Shuklagunj tested positive.

“I took him from the Marhala route and covered 30 km extra to get to Kanpur by motorcycle,” said Himanshu. He first went to UHM Hospital where the doctors, he pointed out, did not listen and referred Pandey to LLR Hospital. In all, Himanshu rode some 50 km, carrying Pandey with him.

When he reached LLR Hospital, doctors admitted him to the Covid ward and he died after 10 minutes of admission. “He was barely breathing and stiffening by the time we arrived. I told them he was asthmatic but they said he was a corona patient,” he said. Before dawn the health workers carried away the body to the electric crematorium and got it disposed of. “They did not allow the family even to see the body, because according to them, my uncle was suffering from coronavirus,” he said. In the lockdown, non-Covid-19 patients, particularly those with serious ailments, are going without treatment in and around Kanpur. Surgeries have stopped and even something like dialysis requires a Covid negative report first.

“There is no denying that people are facing difficulties in getting treatment. Yet, at the same time, the circumstances are unusual,” said district magistrate Brahmndev Ram Tiwari. To make private hospitals admit people, he said, they were given training in infection prevention control.