Retired scientist succumbs to Covid-19 due to shortage of ventilators in Pune

Patient dies at Sassoon General Hospital.

Pune: P Lakshmi Narsimhan, retired scientist at Botanical Survey of India, aged 61 years, was admitted to Sahyadri hospital for an X-ray and breathlessness.

The retired scientist was admitted at Sahyadri hospital on Tuesday when his situation started deteriorating and the hospital said that he needs to be shifted to a ventilation facility. (HT PHOTO (FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY))

Ramesh Iyer, Pune City Congress committee general secretary said, “I was in contact with the family in their trying times. The patient was admitted at Sahyadri hospital on Tuesday when his situation started deteriorating and the hospital said that he needs to be shifted to a ventilation facility. We tried at multiple places, but could not get a ventilator so finally took him to Sassoon where he was declared dead on Wednesday at 2 am. There was a queue even at Sassoon for ICU beds and three patients were in the queue. I even went on the website provided by the divisional commissioner’s office to check availability of ICU beds. The status revealed that in the majority of hospitals there were no ICU beds available. I am going to lodge a complaint with the divisional commissioner regarding non-availability of ventilators and ICU beds in Sassoon Hospital and shortage of beds in other hospitals.”

Dr Sunil Rao, general manager, Sassoon hospital said, “We had no beds. We even tried other hospitals but there were no ICU beds. The patient needed an ICU isolation bed which we did not have and so we had to shift him to another hospital. We did try to stabilise the patient by increasing his oxygen saturation before shifting him out.”