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Covid-19 survivors recount harrowing tales of death and neglect at hospitals
As the second wave shows signs of slowing down and states gear up to prevent a third wave, experts are calling for more attention to be paid to the mental toll the pandemic has taken on survivors and their families alike.
Many survivors who battled Covid-19 have been left with traumatic memories from their days at various Covid care centres around the country. A 57-year-old from Delhi who recounted her experience to news agency PTI said there was a scarcity of doctors, with hardly any one coming to check on the patients initially. She said three patients died before her eyes on the bed right across from hers.
"Hardly any doctor attended to us for the first two days. There were six of us -- women and men -- in the same Covid-19 ward. I watched at least three people die on the bed right across from mine," the woman told PTI.
The staff was overworked and overburdened and patients had to clamour for medical attention by throwing empty bottles out of the door. The patients had to rely on each other to be able to do regular things like going to the washrooms, which were unisex and kept in a terrible condition.
“We had to throw empty plastic bottles out of the door to catch the staff's attention,” she said.
“There was no one to take us to the washroom and we, the patients, would hold each other's hands and go to that very unhygienic toilet, which was down the hall and unisex.” she added.
She also recalled how apathetic the staff had grown after a while and when an aged patient took off his oxygen mask the staff replied that if anything happened to him the latter won’t be affected.
"When the old man right across from my bed would take off his oxygen mask repeatedly, the ward boy would shout at him and say 'Uncle ji, this won't affect us. So, you can keep doing this'," she recalled.
Miles away in Puducherry, another patient, Alamelu, had a similar experience at the Covid care centre she was admitted to. Her daughter Siva Shakthi got her discharged from Indira Gandhi Medical College owing to unhygienic conditions and lack of separate toilets for men and women.
"The hygiene was pretty bad. That's why she had to come back in just three-four days. Both men and women had to use the same toilet. It was very disturbing,” Shakthi narrated.
Alamelu, who suffers from heart issues and a high-blood pressure, received medication in the hospital but not drips, and had to take care of herself because of a shortage of staff.
"Medication was given but drips weren't. You had to take care of yourself which is the case with a lot of hospitals in the country today," she added.
As the second wave shows signs of slowing down and states gear up to prevent a third wave, experts are calling for more attention to be paid to the mental toll the pandemic has taken on survivors and their families alike.
Dr Rajiv Mehta, who is a part of the psychiatry department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the national capital told news agency ANI that families should keep in touch with their ailing members and talk at least 2-3 times a day to help bolster their spirits. He also asked doctors to give their patients adequate time and listen to them.
