A 45-year-old bank employee died of a heart attack on Saturday night after she was refused admission by three hospitals, including the Government General Hospital, according to the family of the deceased.
The woman’s daughter S. Sirisha (name changed) told The Hindu over the phone that her mother complained of uneasiness and was rushed to a private hospital near Veterinary Colony. “The doctors conducted basic tests, including ECG, and said they were helpless as they did not have the equipment and personnel to treat her, due to COVID,” she said.
“The staff told us that her condition was critical and advised us to rush to another private hospital nearby. The personnel there checked the patient in the ambulance itself and said they couldn’t treat citing various reasons. My brother pleaded with the staff, but they did not oblige,” she said.
“We then took her to the GGH where the staff told us that non-COVID cases were not being accepted and directed us to rush to Help Hospitals. By the time we reached it, she had breathed her last. My mother would have been alive today had she been treated on time. Nobody should ever face such a situation,” Ms. Sirisha said. Both the private hospitals are superspeciality ones.
The woman was working in a branch of a public sector bank and was a resident of Gunadala. Her husband died years ago.
No COVID follow-up
“After returning home, we contacted the government helpline urging that COVID test be conducted for the deceased. The helpline personnel shared the local police inspector’s number and asked us to inform the officer. After ascertaining the cause of death, the inspector asked us to go ahead with the burial of the body,” a relative of the woman said. The last rites were performed on Sunday.
