Tamil Nadu: Covid positive patient alleges violation of guidelines by hospital
Chennai: A 56-year-old Covid19 positive patient who is under treatment at Omanadurar Medical College Hospital in Chennai alleged violation of guidelines issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, regarding the management of Covid patients at Covid Care Centres, narrating the ordeal he underwent for last few days at the hospital.
The person, a retired civil servant who was admitted at the MCH on April 2 after he developed symptoms of flu, had tested positive for Covid-19 on April 6.
Since then he has been treated at a separate ward in the third floor of the hospital.
Explaining his experience over the phone, he said that he was currently feeling extremely well in terms of his health condition.
But the patient raised serious allegations in the manner covid-positive patients are treated in the hospital, including that there were five extra beds ready to occupy patients in the same ward he was admitted.
Apart from him, another person was brought there on Friday and is being treated right in front of him.
According to him, the second patient, a 45-year-old trader from Mannady, is a suspected case. His sample has been sent to the lab and he is waiting for the results. ‘How can a suspected case be treated along with confirmed one?, he asked.
Crying foul, he went on to say he was no longer being treated in isolation as a positive-tested person is supposed to be treated.
Two women are said to have been brought to the ward and admitted in the same ward for one whole night in beds close to him. The women were shifted away from there the morning after. He says they too were suspected cases.
He also alleged that the hospital authorities did not provide him food in time. “There is no breakfast, lunch and supper on time. I get food only when I complain. Today (Friday) I got breakfast at 10 am only when I called the control room. For lunch, I shared some food the suspected man brought in with him”, he claimed.
As per his words, he has been provided with three chapatis in combination with ‘rasam’ and sometimes half-baked Paratha with aloo. “The quality of food is below par and I can’t go out since I have tested positive. The hospital authorities must understand this, and provide food on time,” he said.
The patient says that he is not sure of where he contracted the virus. “I do not have a travel history and have been staying at my own place for the last three months. I came into contact with outside people only when I went to a nearby mosque. But I still wonder how my case became positive,” he says.
Meanwhile, Guidelines issued by MoHFW, says that the patients tested for Covid-19 will remain in the “suspect cases” section of the Covid Care Center preferably in an individual room till the time their results are available.
Those who test positive will be moved into the “confirmed cases” section of the Center. Apart from medical care, other essential services like food, sanitation, and counselling at the Centers will be provided by local administration’, the guideline says.
Dr. Narayana Babu, Dean, Omanadurar Medical College Hospital, when contacted, told Deccan Chronicle that at least 54 Covid-19 positive cases were being treated at the hospital.
He also said that as many as 500 beds were made ready for Covid-19 care. “There is enough space at the hospital for the treatment and no complaint on mistreatment has been received so far,” he said.
