A Bengaluru man, showing Covid-19 symptoms, died of complications from pneumonia in K.C. General Hospital, after waiting four days for his test results. His results came back positive for coronavirus around 10 hours after his death.
The patient, a 45-year-old salon owner, was first admitted to ESI Rajajinagar. He was shifted to K.C. General Hospital on Saturday. His relatives allege that he was denied proper care.
Despite having pneumonia, he was made to lie in an open bed for four days, said B. Narayana Swami, a leader from Savita Samaj. He didn’t get due care because of the delay in receiving Covid test reports, Swami added.
“Irrespective of the test result, a person with Covid like symptoms should be treated well in isolation ward. We will take strict action against those who neglected his treatment,” health and family welfare commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey told THE WEEK.
The patient’s swab sample was taken and sent for testing at GKVK lab on Saturday but apparently got stuck in testing bottleneck. The Covid testing labs at NIMHANS and Victoria Hospital were closed after technicians tested positive, leading to a backlog of samples awaiting results at GKVK.
Meanwhile Dr B.R. Venkateshaiah, medical superintendent of K.C. General Hospital told THE WEEK that the patient died due to hypoxia. “He got admitted to K.C. General Hospital on June 27 at 2.30 pm and his swab sample was taken and sent for testing. Our records show that his samples were collected at ESI hospital, too. Patient was given adequate treatment including injections, nebulisation, hydrocortisone. His TPR and BP were monitored frequently. However, by June 30, his condition deteriorated and his blood oxygen saturation levels started coming down. He was provided oxygen,” he said.
The case also shows how the city’s health infrastructure is being overwhelmed by the surge in cases. “Our ICU beds were all occupied while his condition worsened. We made frantic calls with several hospitals looking for an ICU bed and found that ESI hospital had one. At 11 pm, we shifted him to ESI hospital in a 108 ambulance. ESI doctors called us a few minutes later saying the patient was brought dead,” Venkateshaiah said, reiterating that there was no lapse in treatment.
The patient’s Covid-19 test reports arrived on Wednesday morning. Both the reports came back positive.
K.C. General Hospital has set aside six ICUs, four ventilators and 100 beds for Covid-19 positive patients, all of which are currently occupied. The hospital has 260 beds for non-Covid patients and 240 of them are full. Several doctors and nurses in the hospital have tested positive and a few are on quarantine.
Bengaluru has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases in the last few days. The city recorded 889 new cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 6,179.
