Ujjain: Family members of a 61-year-old man of Freeganj Sabzi Mandi were charged more than Rs 31,000 in the name of treatment at a private non-corona hospital. He died on May 26 and death certificate of the patient termed it as ‘non-corona death.’ Hence, corona protocol was not followed during last rites. Result: Half-a-dozen people residing in the same multi-storey as the deceased later tested positive for corona. Among them was a youth who later died. Another half-a-dozen people who had come in contact with the deceased and his family members too tested positive for the virus. Later, the administration declared the multi-storey and nearby area as containment zone.
In fact, this is not a single case. About a dozen deaths were reported from three to four private (non-corona hospitals) during the ongoing corona pandemic. These hospitals treated corona patients without notifying the administration and even charged hefty amounts. All these deaths were passed off as non-corona deaths.
Soon after corona outbreak, RD Gardi Medical College and Madhav Nagar Hospital were designated for treatment of corona patients. The two hospitals were instructed by the administration to provide tests, medicines, bed expenses, doctor and paramedical staff fee and even tea, breakfast, food etc facilities for free.
However, a few private hospitals decided to make hay when the sun shines and treated corona patients illegally. They charged hefty money from the families. CHL Medical Centre is one of them. The hospital is run by an Indore-based group. The Freeganj patient was treated in the same hospital. Likewise, several Covid-19 patients were treated at private hospitals without notifying the administration. A few of these patients even died.
It required death of a Ved Nagar patient to break district administration’s slumber and wake them up to the malpractice by these private hospitals. Terming the act of non-Covid-19 hospitals as illegal, Tejankar Hospital was given a show-cause notice by the administration in the second fortnight of June. However, no action was taken against other hospitals.
Claims and counter claims
CHL Medical Centre administration admitted to two corona deaths in hospital, including an 81-year-old woman of Nagda on March 23 and 55-year-old man of Kartik Chowk on May 13. It also issued death certificates accordingly. Their bodies were taken for funeral as per Corona protocol. Even, Ujjain Municipal Corporation registered these deaths as Corona deaths, but administration didn’t include them in the list of Corona deaths. On the contrary, administration admitted that five persons died of Corona in CHL.
Like previous cases, neither CMHO Mahavir Khandelwal nor any other authority was available for comment.
