A construction labourer, Raju, hailing from Dharmavaram town in Anantapur district battled for his life for six hours on the premises of the Government General Hospital (GGH) here and died due to shortness of breath at 9 a.m. on Friday for lack of medical help.
Mr. Raju, who worked on the State government’s village secretariat building construction site, developed symptoms of COVID-19 on Thursday night after returning from work. His daughter and wife, who took him to two private hospitals in Anantapur, were turned away from both and were forced to go to the GGH at 3 a.m. The GGH has been declared a dedicated COVID-19 hospital by the State government.
Even as Mr. Raju gasped for air and his pregnant daughter pleaded with the hospital staff to attend to him, he was left lying on the road leading to the main entrance of the hospital till 9 a.m.
Crestfallen family of Mr. Raju said that the hospital staff repeatedly told them that they would have to wait until the doctors came in at 9 a.m.
This attitude shows the callousness of the staff, the family said, adding, not bothering to even arrange for an oxygen cylinder, admit him in one of the wards with oxygen support and then wait for the expert advice showed their apathy.
Similar incidents at the GGH had prompted the call for the demand to convert it into a full-fledged COVID-19 hospital, to ensure focused care. However, all that merely remained on paper.
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party national general secretary Nara Lokesh said: “I am shocked at the way COVID-19 patients are dying on the streets not receiving the required support. Let the Y.S. Jagan Government stop publicity and get to work and look after the health of the people.”
After repeated attempts of The Hindu at getting the response of the hospital superintendent M. Ramaswamy, he said, “the patient, named Raju, aged around 55, reported at the Triage area after going to various nursing homes in town. He was brought to the Triage area at 5 a.m. in a gasping state. By the time our staff tried to shift him to the ICU, he expired. Because he was brought in a serious condition, he could not be revived.”
