A 61-year-old retired scientist, Dr Lakshmi Narsimhan, died early on Wednesday morning after several private hospitals refused to admit him, citing unavailability of ICU beds. He had retired from the Botanical Survey of India last year.
Dr Lakshmi Narsimhan was rushed to a private hospital by his wife and daughter on Tuesday evening after he complained of breathing difficulties. However, the doctors at the hospital said that there was no ICU bed available. The family then contacted Narsimhan's brother-in-law S Madhavan who approached Congress leaders and some of his friends. "All of us tried to contact different private hospitals, but none of them had ICU beds available," Madhavan said.
He was then taken to the Sassoon Hospital where there was a queue of other patients to get an ICU bed. "Narsimhan was put in the general ward and given oxygen support. The doctors repeatedly told his wife and daughter that they should have patience and he will be fine. However, around 2 am, he passed away,” Madhavan added.
The distraught family said that they want the police to conduct a thorough probe into the case. Meanwhile, District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said the administration will investigate the matter and look into the allegations of the family.
Speaking to the Indian Express, Ram said that they will find out what exactly happened. "I will ask my officials to thoroughly investigate the matter. Pune has no shortage of beds with oxygen or ventilators….I have said this earlier also…,” he said
Meanwhile, according to the projections made by the administration, Pune is expected to face a shortage of 216 ICU beds and 109 ventilators by July 20 for the COVID-19 patients. It is expected that Pune will see at least 12,799 active cases and in another 10 days, the figure is set to jump up to 19,599.
