It has been globally observed that people with co-morbidities are especially susceptible to contracting the virus.(Representational)
“On Monday, after my dialysis treatment in Sector 38, I had no way to travel back to my home in the colony except by foot. The ambulances might drop you but they never pick you up. I began walking back home in the afternoon sun and fainted on a sidewalk on the way,” says Santosh Kumar, a patient of chronic kidney disease who has faced grueling challenges to receive regular dialysis as a resident of the Covid-19 hotspot, Bapu Dham Colony. “I am so weak after dialysis, I can barely sit, let alone walk,” adds Kumar, who used to sell Chinese food on the street side before the lockdown.
Like Santosh, many more residents from the colony with chronic diseases are toiling daily to ensure their survival and access to regular medical aid. With authorities concerned with Covid-19 patients, those with other diseases are scared for their lives, unable to travel easily to hospitals for their treatment. Though there are two dedicated ambulances available for emergency services for the colony residents, most of them often do not respond quickly, or ambulance staff refuse to drop patients anywhere else except for GMSH 16, GMCH 32 and PGIMER.
“The ambulance staff told me they will drop me to PGIMER, but the hospital does not give dialysis treatment for OPD patients. Once, even when I was admitted there, they refused to give me dialysis, and I had to ultimately go somewhere else for treatment,” adds Santosh, who goes to a charitable trust run by a gurdwara in Sector 38 for highly subsidised hemodialysis. Santosh has to receive dialysis three times a week to survive. On Monday, despite him insisting otherwise, Santosh was dropped by an ambulance to PGIMER, from where he hitchhiked to Sector 38. It was after his treatment that he decided to walk back home and passed out on a sidewalk.
“We are aware of the health emergencies faced by people and we also heard about patients struggling to return home after treatment. But we have began streamlining our ambulances and the services they provide and in the next few days things will surely improve and patients will be taken to the hospital for treatment and will taken back home safely as well” says Sudhnashu Gautam, SDM for the region.
It has been globally observed that people with co-morbidities are especially susceptible to contracting the virus.