Around 25 coronavirus patients had to spend hours on the streets after they were denied admission at the Ahmedabad civil hospital, prompting the Gujarat government to rush senior health officials to the spot to resolve the matter.
One of the patients recorded her plight from outside the COVID-19 speciality ward at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and shared it on social media platforms. Following the SOS video, the authorities immediately rushed to admit the 25 people in the civil hospital.
‘Waited for 6 Hours, There Was No Response’
In the viral video, shot around 8.45 pm on Sunday, some men and women were purportedly seen standing outside the civil hospital and claiming that they were coronavirus patients, waiting since 3 pm to get admitted.
"We are total 25 persons whose coronavirus reports came out positive yesterday. We are waiting outside the civil hospital since 3 pm. Its already 8.45 pm. We have not even had food. We are made to wait outside and no one is giving us a response. Please help us," the woman said in her video.
The Quint spoke to one of the patients, who is now admitted to the hospital. He said, “All 25 of us belong to one particular area. They had taken our test on Friday. After two days, they called us and said all of us have tested positive and we need to visit the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. When we went there around 3 pm, they said there is some problem with our case papers and asked us to wait outside. We kept waiting and running pillar to post to get the documents sorted. When nothing happened, we recorded the video. We were admitted in the hospital around 9 PM on Sunday.”
Gujarat Govt Sprang Into Action After SOS Video
State principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi on Monday said as soon as they came to know about the issue, senior officials, including health commissioner Jai Prakash Shivahare, rushed to the civil hospital and accommodated the patients at the medical facility, reported PTI.
They were also given food after they were admitted in the hospital on Sunday, she told reporters in Gandhinagar.
"For admission, patients were supposed to bring their case papers. But, there were some discrepancies in those papers, which created problem in data entry. Our officials resolved the issue and admitted the patients. We will make sure such incidents do not take place in future," she added.
Police Constable, Who Tested Positive, Was Denied Bed in the Same Hospital
Meanwhile, Gujarat Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia slammed the state government over the 'plight' of a police constable admitted to the civil hospital a few days back after his coronavirus test report came out positive.
The constable called the police control room two days back, claiming he was asked to sleep on the hospital's floor.
He also said there was no ceiling fan at the place where he was lodged in the hospital.
The issue came to the fore after a brief note of his message to the police control room went viral on Sunday.
"Is this how we want to treat our corona Warriors? A policeman was not given a bed in the hospital. Government must do something about it," Modhwadia tweeted on Sunday.
Responding to it, the state government shared some videos of the hospital to clarify that patients were given the best treatment.
In one of the videos, the constable who had complained was seen on a bed, surrounded by doctors.
He was even seen thanking the hospital staff and the government on behalf of Ahmedabad police.
(With inputs from PTI and Deepak Patel in Ahmedabad.)
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