In a shocking case of medical negligence, the Ahmedabad Civil hospital which has been in the news for all the wrong reasons amid the COVID-19 pandemic allegedly told the family of a patient that he was recovering, hours after they had cremated him evrambhai Bhisikar was admitted to the Covid-19 wing of the Ahmedabad civil hospital on May 28 after he displayed symptoms of the infection. Family members were informed of his demise on the afternoon of May 29 and rushed to the hospital
Bhisikar’s son-in-law Nilesh Nikte collected the body from the hospital and performed his last rites as per COVID-19 protocol within hours. But what followed was shocking. Around 1 am Nikte wife received a call on her mobile number, which she did not attend as it was late in the night and it was from an unknown number.
But in the morning they received another call from the Ahmedabad civil hospital, informing them of improvement in Devrambhai’s health, that his COVID-19 test is negative and he can be discharged soon.
The family was confused and shocked at the same time. As they made frantic efforts to know what is going on and rushed to the hospital the bewildered family was told that the staff at the hospital’s control room had made a mistake and that the 71-year-old had in fact passed away
The gross negligence did not even end there. As soon as the family returned home, they received another call at about 2.30 pm from the GCRI control room saying that Bhisikar was doing well.
According to Dr. Shanshank Pandya, Director, GCRI the patient was brought to the Civil Hospital’s trauma centre with high fever, cold and sore throat.
Since he had the symptoms, he was sent to the 1,200-bed COVID-care facility of the hospital, and samples were taken for testing. Since he died before the results arrived, the body was handed over to the family for cremation.
The next day when the COVID-19 results came, as per protocol the hospital’s control room informed the family the same. However, they were not aware that the patient had already died, which resulted in the confusion
Last week the Gujarat High Court had come down heavy on the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital where around 400 COVID-19 patients have died and said that there was a lack of “proper team work and coordination” Earlier the court had said that the condition of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital was “pathetic, distressing and painful,” and “as good as dungeon”.
(Coutesy indiaToday)
