Chama Goyal is still unable to walk — the September 13 blast in Connaught Place’s Central Park left the 22 year old with a paralysis on the right side of the body.
She is still on oxygen and regular physiotherapy, but on Tuesday morning her family members were given her discharge papers by authorities at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital.
“I don’t know what to do? The doctors have discharged her even before she can walk,” her father Rakesh Goyal told Hindustan Times over the telephone around 11 am on Tuesday.
On the other hand, the hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr NK Chaturvedi, when contacted, refuted the family’s claim. He said, “The family is unnecessarily panicking and they have not been given discharge papers.”
Chama was brought to the hospital in a very critical state following the blast and was recuperating in the intensive care unit before being moved to the neurosurgery ward earlier this week.
For her family, taking Chama home is an uphill task. “Her treatment is on and doctors want me to bring her for oxygen intake and physiotherapy at 9 a.m. every day. I am a local grocer at the Sabji Mandi in Ghanta Ghar. It is not just about missing work hours but my house is on the third floor in the bylanes of Old Delhi,” cried her father over the phone.
{{/usCountry}}For her family, taking Chama home is an uphill task. “Her treatment is on and doctors want me to bring her for oxygen intake and physiotherapy at 9 a.m. every day. I am a local grocer at the Sabji Mandi in Ghanta Ghar. It is not just about missing work hours but my house is on the third floor in the bylanes of Old Delhi,” cried her father over the phone.
{{/usCountry}}“To get my daughter up and down every day in a building without a lift would be subjected her to unnecessary harassment,” he said.
When her treating doctor senior neurosurgeon Dr. L.N. Gupta was contacted he said, “We only suggested that she go home as she is stable. However, we cannot call her fit. She might recover in six months, a year or maybe never. As of now, she is not critical but she does need medical treatment.”
However, upon an intervention by Hindustan Times, she was finally given a bed and the hospital authorities promised continued treatment.
“The real problem is that most government hospitals have immense patient load and acute shortage of beds. To accommodate all and at all times is just not possible,” said an RML doctor on conditions of anonymity.