The suspension of outpatient services in several private hospitals and closed clinics in the city have made life during lockdown more difficult for the ailing. The problem is compounded with the State government halting all public transport, making access to healthcare difficult for such people.
Arifunnisa Begum, 55, a pensioner and resident of Kalapather, suffered a brain stroke days after the Janata Curfew and lockdown, on March 26. She was taken to two private hospitals in Old City, but the doctors were unavailable. She was then rushed to a smaller hospital at Shamsheergunj, where the doctor diagnosed her problem.
“Not a single neurologist was available at the two hospitals in Old City and Mehdipatnam on that day. They had asked me to get admitted first, and later they would call the doctor. My son then took an online consultation, showed the reports and then got a prescription,” she said.
She fell sick again on April 3, and there was a repeat of the same ordeal, along with lack of modes of transport.
“Most of the time was wasted on looking for transport. But we managed to get help from a few kind autorickshaw drivers to travel from one hospital to another for over three-and-a-half hours. We even had to request an autorickshaw carrying relief material to drop us to a clinic,” Ms. Begum said with exasperation.
Her late husband was an assistant sub-inspector and the reduction in pension had hit her family, she said.
Shabana Begum, 32, shared a similar experience. A resident of Mustafa Nagar, she was consulting a private practitioner at Banjara Hills. “I am not able to travel these days because the doctor is not available, and when he is there, I am not able to find transport,” she said.
Meanwhile, a lot of people have brought this issue up with the authorities concerned, over social media.
