Trauma faced by family of 4 COVID victims shows apathy

Man runs pillar-to-post to get NRI friend’s father admitted

The High Court has been informed by the State government that it has been doing everything to provide succour to coronavirus patients and their families.

However, the horror stories continue to come from affected families, as is evident in the ordeal being faced by a family of four — all of them testing positive.

Srinivas, working in a corporate real estate firm, had received an SOS from NRI friend Prasad stating that his parents in their 60s, his grandmother in her 80s and his two-year-old son, living in Kukatpally Housing Board (KPHB) Colony, had tested positive.

In fact, six flats in the apartment had inmates with COVID-19 symptoms.

The friend immediately tried to provide them some medical aid and with tensions running high and oxygen levels dropping, managed to get the father admitted to a corporate hospital just in time after frantic calls, but they refused to admit the grandmother citing lack of ICU beds even as the family was still worrying how to take care of the infant.

Billing woes

Finally, another private hospital took in the elderly woman but only after payment of ₹2 lakh and when her condition worsened, it sought another ₹2.5 lakh and advised purchasing Remdesivir injections costing another ₹32,000 to be delivered to the hospital.

From then on, the demand for treatment was in lakhs only while the pharmacy billing was to the tune of ₹75,000 without detailing on what was the line of treatment and what was the billing for, Mr. Srinivas said.

“It has been more than a week and my friend’s father’s bill has crossed ₹5 lakh with no sign of any let up. We are expecting a total bill of up to ₹10 lakh or more. His mother and his child are in home isolation with the support of neighbours and consultation through doctors’ video calls,” he bemoaned.

“While my friend had means to pay the hospital bills, I was aghast at the official apathy. At least nine people from the apartment had tested positive, yet none from the municipal corporation or the medical & health department called or visited them, forget about disinfecting the building,” he complained.

Mr. Srinivas wonders: “Where is the advisory and guidance from the local authorities? Where are those regulators supposed to monitor COVID hospitals and their charges? It is complete anarchy in containment or treatment of coronavirus. I hope this story will stir the conscience of the powers that be and wake them up to the horrendous situation around us which we are trying not to accept”.

(Names have been changed on request).