No beds: Patient driven in ambulance to K’taka Assembly in protest

Frustrated and angry for not getting a bed, a Covid-19 patient and her family took the ambulance they were travelling in right to the doorsteps of power – the Vidhana Soudha (Karnataka Assembly) on Thursday. After sitting in protest in front of the Assembly, they managed to get a bed.

As the ambulance was heading to the Vidhana Soudha carrying the patient -- a woman and her daughter – the police stopped the vehicle. Her relatives immediately launched a protest in front of the building. Later, Youth Congress leader Nalapad also reached the spot and joined the protest.

As the matter threatened to draw publicity, which the government did not want, Chief Secretary Ravi Kumar arranged a bed for the patient at the government's Victoria Hospital.

While the patient was shifted to the hospital, the Youth Congress leader was taken into custody by the police.

Karnataka has been battling a massive tsunami of Covid infections for the past fortnight and the state is among the 10 worst hit in the current wave of the pandemic according to the Union Health Ministry which account for over 70 per cent of the cases.

On Thursday, the state reported a huge spike in the number of Covid deaths with 328 patients succumbing to the virus. Bengaluru recorded 129 deaths. The state recorded 49,058 new Covid cases sending the number of active cases to 5,17,075. Mysuru, Mandya, Tumakuru, Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kalburgi recorded over 1000 new cases each.

Meanwhile, Union government on Thursday approached Supreme Court against a Karnataka High Court direction asking the Centre to allocate 1,200 MT of oxygen to the state. The Centre’s decision to move the apex court over High Court directive comes at a time when Karnataka is facing acute shortage of medical grade oxygen.