A number of Delhi residents have complained over the lack of facilities at Delhi hospitals for coronavirus patients.
Taking to Twitter, some residents have even claimed that despite them or their family members testing positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.
One Twitter user Radhika Agarwal highlighted her plight on the social media platform. Saying that her aunt was showing COVID-19 symptoms on June, but authorities at Khetrapal Hospital on Najafgarh, she alleged, did not test family members, and only tested her aunt after a long argument with the authorities. Unfortunately, Agrawal’s aunt passed away on Thursday.
However, the trouble for the family only intensified as 15 family members, which included two people aged over 80, and one person with breathing problems, visited various hospitals in the national capital to explain their plight, only to be turned away. Agarwal has said that not only have the hospitals refused to test the family members, but the authorities have not sealed the area as a containment zone.
It was only after she put out the thread that a member from Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party contacted her. Local MLA Naresh Balyan got in touch with her following which necessary protocols were taken and the family was tested.
However, Agarwal isn’t the only one to face such an ordeal. Entrepreneur Japleen Pasricha took to Twitter to highlight how some family members tested positive, but no action was taken. Claiming that a lab told her that they have been instructed by the Delhi government to stop collecting samples, Pasricha added that there was a rumour doing the rounds that the Delhi government doesn’t want to increase the numbers.
The Delhi government has not responded to these allegations. It, however, has said that action will be taken against hospitals who deny people beds.
Incidentally, Khetrapal Hospital in not on the list of the Delhi government-listed hospitals put on the website. However, Apollo and Gangaram Hospitals are, and they denied beds to the father-in-law of one Mandeep Singh, as described in this Huffington Post report. The hospitals, according to the first-hand report shared by Singh said that they did not have enough hospital beds. However, data from the Delhi government website, dated June 4, shows that all the hospitals mentioned by Singh were probably full.
One portion of the list of vacant beds in New Delhi | Screenshot. Delhi govt
The piece, however, talks about a lot of red-tapism while admitting a COVID-19 patient into hospital. While getting through the helpline is a challenge, doctors, Singh said, are reluctant to treat patients.
Currently, the Delhi government has listed 8,512 beds of which 5,183 beds are vacant. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website, Delhi has reported over 25,000 cases of coronavirus.
