A video has emerged of a Covid-19 patient who is complaining about no ventilator support and lack of attention in a hospital in Erragadda of Hyderabad. The family shared the video after the 35-year-old patient died on 26th June due to coronavirus infection complications. As per the reports, he was admitted to the government Chest hospital after complaining about a high fever on 24th June.
Man claims hospital negligence in viral video
The incident took place on 26th June, and the video surfaced on social media on Sunday, after which it got viral. In a short selfie video, the man said, “They have removed the ventilator and have not responded to my plea for the last three hours to provide oxygen support. My heart has stopped and only lungs are working, but I am unable to breathe, daddy. Bye daddy. Bye, all. Bye, daddy.”
Hospital denied allegations
Mahboob Khan, superintendent of the Chest Hospital denied the allegations. He said, “The ventilator support was very much there, but the patient was in such a critical stage that he could not feel the oxygen supply.” The man died of heart collapse. There have been some cases in the country where young people between the ages of 25-40 are dying because of Covid-19 infection in the heart. “They are provided oxygen, but they feel it insufficient,” he added.
The hospital superintendent has added that usually, coronavirus patients die due to infections in the lung. But they are seeing a recent phenomenon where many patients, particularly in the 25-40 age group, has been succumbing to the disease due to the infection spreading to the heart. Khan added that patient was already in a critical stage at the time of infection and there was not much they could do.
Ordeal of the grieving father
The father of the deceased said that his son sent the video minutes before dying in the hospital. His last rites were performed on Saturday. He alleged that his son complained in the video that when he asked the hospital about removing the ventilator, the staff said, “you’ve had enough.”
Many cases of negligence and mismanagement on local government’s or hospital’s part have emerged in different parts of the country in the last few months including Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.