Breaking Barricades for Beds: Desperate Scenes at Gujarat Hospital
An auto rammed into police barricades in a desperate attempt to get admission in Ahmedabad’s Dhanvantari hospital.
Videos from outside Ahmedabad's Dhanvantari COVID hospital on Thursday, 29 April, showed desperate attempts of getting a hospital bed for patients affected by the coronavirus.
After standing in queues for days, relatives of COVID-positive patients rammed into police barricades. In a video, an auto driver can be seen ramming his vehicle into the barricades, with a patient lying in the backseat. An eyewitness told The Times of India that the man was trying to get an admission for his 70-year-old relative but the police on duty refused to let him in without a token. Following an argument, the man rammed his auto into the barricade but in vain. His relative could not be admitted in the hospital since the policemen caught hold of him and sent him back, according to the eyewitness.
Media reports showed several people waiting in long queues outside the 900-bed hospital facility, recently inaugurated by Home Minister Amit Shah and Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani.
According to the hospital's new rules, no admissions are allowed without acquiring a token. Earlier, the hospital had said that only patients who come in 108 ambulances will be admitted.
However, the Gujarat High Court had taken strong objection to that and noted, ""No matter from which vehicle (private or government) patients are coming to the hospitals. How can doctors say that if you are not coming from a 108 ambulance, we will not treat you and will let you die?"
(With inputs from Deepak Patel in Ahmedabad.)
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