Denied test at Gzb hospital, woman dies in ambulance

A 65-year-old woman from Delhi died in an ambulance at the MMG District Hospital on Wednesday afternoon after health care workers at the Sanjay Nagar combined district hospital told to go there for her Covid-19 test, her family alleged.

The deceased was identified as Sunita Kakkar, a resident of Krishna Nagar.

Sandeep Chaddha, her son-inlaw who took her to Ghaziabad on Wednesday, said, “After not getting beds in Delhi on Tuesday, we turned to Ghaziabad and visited several hospitals but could not find a bed. We then reached the testing booth at Sanjay Nagar and the staff there asked us to go to MMG Hospital.”

At MMG hospital, her sample was taken up around 12.15pm and she died around 12.30pm, he said. “Her oxygen supply in the ambulance had exhausted by then,” said Chaddha. “If the test would have been conducted at Sanjay Nagar booth, she would have been saved. Instead, we had to suffer traffic to reach MMG Hospital, which is about 5kms away. When her rapid antigen test report arrived, she tested positive for Covid.”

Dr Sanjay Teotia, chief medical superintendent of Sanjay Nagar district hospital said that the testing booth staff, is attached to the office of the chief medical officer (CMO).

CMO Dr NK Gupta said he will inquire into the incident. “We will get it inquired,” he said.

The UP government had issued directions on April 17 about “presumptive patients” and said that those having Covid-like symptoms but testing negative in reports, should be treated like Covid patients.

District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey did not respond to calls and text messages.

Meanwhile, the state control room records indicated that the Ghaziabad district on Wednesday recorded a single-day high of eight deaths due to Covid-19. With this, the overall tally of deaths has gone up to 117. Overall 15 deaths have taken place so far in the month of April.