Mother, 2-day-old twins wait 2 hours for admission

Ghaziabad: A 30-year-old woman, who had given birth to twins a couple of days earlier and tested positive later, had to wait in an ambulance for two hours in the scorching heat as a government hospital insisted on a medical proof that she had indeed been infected by the novel coronavirus.
It was only after chief medical officer NK Gupta intervened that the woman was admitted to District Combined Hospital, a level 2 Covid facility. Sources said the woman, a Vijay Nagar resident, had gone to District Women’s Hospital for a routine check-up on Friday, when her swab samples were taken for testing.
Later that night, the woman went into labour and was admitted to the same hospital. The next evening, she gave birth to twin daughters and was discharged from the hospital.
On Sunday evening, the woman’s Covid report reached the hospital authorities and she was informed that she had tested positive and needed to be admitted to the isolation ward the next morning.
The woman and her newborns reached the Combined Hospital around Monday noon, but was asked to wait outside as she did not have a copy of the test report.
The driver of the ambulance that ferried her said the hospital officials insisted she be taken to Meerut medical college. The driver informed the Covid response team, which, in turn, asked the hospital to admit the woman. Despite that, the hospital allegedly kept dilly-dallying on the admission process and the woman and her two-day-old twins had to wait in the non-air-conditioned ambulance.
When news reached the CMO, he asked the hospital medical superintendent, Naresh Vij, to ensure the woman was admitted without delay. Gupta said he had ordered an inquiry into the admission delay.
Despite repeated attempts, the hospital superintendent could not be reached for a comment.