Delhi: SI dies during treatment, family claims he caught Covid at hospital

His son Rohit Khatri (32) told The Indian Express: “We rushed him to the hospital on June 12 after a cardiac episode. His Covid test came negative, and he underwent an open heart surgery on June 22. On June 28, when he was still admitted at the hospital, his Covid test came positive. He got the virus while in the hospital.”

Dr Satish Mathew, senior cardiothoracic surgeon at Kailash hospital, said that it is difficult to say how Singh caught the virus since “no healthcare workers at the non-Covid hospital have shown symptoms of the virus nor have tested positive.”

He said, “When the patient got admitted, his heart function was down to 30 per cent as his three arteries were blocked. He was also obese. He recovered well from the open heart surgery. He had some fever but he recovered from that in four-five days. Then we found that his one lung was white, which is unusual, and we got his Covid test done again, which came positive.”

At 1 am Friday, Khatri — kitted in a PPE — saw his father after doctors at the hospital told him that his condition was deteriorating.

At 2.30 am, Singh passed away, and in the morning, his cremation was done under Covid protocol.

Khatri said, “His first test was negative, which means he didn’t get it from outside. He was admitted at the hospital since June 12, and obviously got the virus from there.”

Dr Mathew said that Thursday afternoon, Singh suffered a stroke, and was put on the ventilator. “We administered four doses of drug Remdesivir, and did his plasma therapy twice but his condition deteriorated and he passed away.”

Singh joined the police force in 1984, and is survived by his wife, and their two children.