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60-year-old dies after being denied admission by Ghaziabad hospitals
A 60-year-old man, who had recently retired as a senior technician from the Indian Railways, died on Tuesday after allegedly being denied treatment by three private
A 60-year-old man, who had recently retired as a senior technician from the Indian Railways, died on Tuesday after allegedly being denied treatment by three private hospitals and one government hospital in Ghaziabad.
The family of the deceased, who was a resident of Vijay Nagar, Ghaziabad, has, however, filed a complaint with the district magistrate (DM) against two private hospitals only.
The deceased, Umesh Kumar Sharma, who had retired on May 31, had complained of severe breathlessness on June 14, his family said, adding that he was first taken to a local nursing home where the doctors advised the family to get him admitted at a hospital.
“On June 14, we took him to Yashoda Hospital in Kaushambi where he was kept in the emergency ward, but later the hospital denied him admission and said that the patient had symptoms of coronavirus (Covid-19). We requested them to keep the patient overnight, but they refused to give treatment and asked us to go to a Railway Hospital. We then brought him home. The next day, we again went to a government acquired Covid hospital in Nandgram and a private hospital in Kavi Nagar and he was denied admission at both places,” said Jitesh Sharma, nephew of the deceased.
He said that on June 15 morning they took him to Columbia Asia hospital in Kavi Nagar. “There he was kept in the emergency ward for some time, but they also denied him admission. Then we rushed him to the MMG Hospital, but he collapsed there,” Jitesh said. Despite being denied treatment at four places, the family has so far submitted a complaint against Yashoda Hospital and Columbia Asia Hospitals to the DM.
“The two hospitals, Yashoda and Columbia Asia, could have admitted my uncle and treated him. We have submitted a written complaint at the DM’s office, and demand that an explanation should be sought from the two hospitals. We don’t want that such incidents should be repeated with anyone else,” the nephew said.
Officials of Yashoda Hospital, Kaushambi denied laxity on their part.
“The family’s allegation that the deceased was not given proper treatment is incorrect. The patient was given treatment in the emergency ward and was stabilized. He had typical Covid-19 symptoms. Since our isolation ward was full, we could not admit him there. The record of the occupancy of the isolation ward has also been submitted to the office of chief medical officer (CMO). We referred him to Northern Railway hospital in Delhi and it was the family’s decision to not take him there,” said Dr Sunil Dagar, spokesperson, Yashoda hospital.
The Columbia Asia hospital authorities said they did not find any records of the patient at their hospital.
“We have gone through our records and to the best of our knowledge, no patient named Umesh Sharma was registered on June 14 or June 15 at Columbia Asia Hospital, Ghaziabad,” said a hospital spokesperson.
Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, said the complaint given by the family to the DM will be routed to his office.
“Once we get a copy of the complaint we will initiate a detailed inquiry in the matter and explanations will be sought from all hospitals. Thereafter, a due course of action will be decided. If laxity on the part of a government acquired hospital surfaces, then action will be taken against it as well,” he added.
Earlier in June, a 30-year-old pregnant woman from Khoda in Ghaziabad after she was allegedly denied treatment by at least eight government and private hospitals in Noida and Ghaziabad due to non-availability of beds.
