An FIR has been lodged at Kurra police station and Shailendra has been arrested. (Representational Image)
A day after a 60-year-old man from Tamil Nadu, Mohamed Musthafa, died at a COVID care centre in Sultanpuri, officials said doctors were always present at the centre, and the man had been shifted from Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital because he was asymptomatic. The man was diabetic, doctors at the hospital said.
“He was shifted as per protocol as he was asymptomatic. The government has ordered that only patients who are severely ill should be kept at hospitals. As per rules, patients who are shifted to quarantine centers are monitored by a team of doctors there,” said a doctor at the hospital. The man had been brought to the centre on April 19 after spending 21 days at the hospital.
Fathima Muzaffer, a member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board who lives in Chennai and is coordinating with the family, has alleged that he was diabetic but was not given medicines and food on time. The government has ordered an enquiry into the incident.
District Magistrate Sandeep Mishra denied the allegations and said that the centre was a care centre and not just a quarantine ward. “He did not die because of negligence. Five doctors were on duty at the time of incident and the patient was attended to. He succumbed before he could be shifted to a hospital. Food is being served regularly four times a day to everyone in the centre. All necessary steps as per prescribed protocol are being taken,” he said.
Around 700 people, officials said, mostly those who had been to the Nizamuddin Markaz, have been kept at the centre. This includes 104 people who are COVID-19 positive.
Mustafa was taken to Lok Nayak Hospital after he collapsed at the centre, but he died before reaching the hospital.
Fathima, meanwhile, said some activists are planning to go to court to demand that people from Tamil Nadu who are found negative and are stranded in Delhi due to the lockdown be transferred to their home state. “There is a language barrier. We will keep them in quarantine and follow all rules,” she said.