Covid patients die due to lack of hospital beds in Bengaluru

Picture used for representational purpose only

Bengaluru: On the night of Thursday, a 26-year-old woman was dialling Covid helpline numbers in a hurry as the ambulance rushed with her severely ill 64-year-old businessman father and a 57-year-old mother who are both Covid patients.

The father was struggling to breathe as his oxygen saturation levels dropped to 75 and the mother’s condition was also no better.

The RT Nagar resident had struggled for two days to get her parents hospital beds after which, she managed to get them into an ambulance at 6 pm and then set out in search of hospital beds.

Neerja Shah, a relative of the woman said, “The city’s emergency system was of no help as we dialled 1912, the Covid helpline, only to be put on hold. We gave up and frantically began hunting for beds on our own.” The ambulance went to at least half a dozen hospitals but it was sent back due to a lack of ventilators and oxygen beds. The man passed away at around 2:30 am in the ambulance. However, his wife found a hospital bed without oxygen in Chaithanya Hospital.

The woman was one of those who hurriedly took their ill relatives in ambulances and autorickshaws across the city in search of hospitals and beds. A WhatsApp group for mobilising beds for patients stated that at least six people died of the virus before reaching hospitals on Thursday night alone.

A 47-year-old resident from RS Palya was also in ambulance on the same night. The woman was tested Covid positive last week and her daughter and a relative began the search for beds when her breathlessness got worse.

The family hired an ambulance when her oxygen saturation dropped to 45 on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, she passed away at around 4 am. The family added that they had to pay Rs 15,000 for the ambulance.

A police officer from Halasuru police limits said, “During our duty, especially in the last few days into the lockdown, we have been encountering families in tears inside autorickshaws, cars, and ambulances frantically moving around in search of beds. The ill are either gasping for breath or on oxygen apparatus, if lucky.”

On Friday evening, the RT Nagar resident was waiting at Panathur crematorium to conduct her father’s last rites, while her mother needed an ICU bed as her condition was worsening.