Chandigarh: ‘Ambulance stayed out, we took her in stretcher’

CHANDIGARH: An 80-year-old woman from Sector 30 on Tuesday tested positive for novel coronavirus after she died in an ambulance while on way to a hospital on Monday, pushing the death toll to five.
Relatives alleged they had to carry her on a stretcher to the ambulance from their house as health worker refused to enter the containment zone. “The ambulance was parked 200 metres away from the barricades. No health worker agreed to come inside,” said the grandson of the woman. “I and with my friend lifted her, put her on a stretcher and took her to the ambulance.”
UT health secretary Arun Gupta said there is no such order that does not allow an ambulance to enter a containment zone. “I have no idea whether it was stopped at the barricade or not,” he said.
The woman’s samples were taken at Government Multi-specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16. According to doctors, she fell down on Monday after complaining of giddiness and a bout of vomiting. She was suffering from renal and liver disease and taking treatment at GMSH and civil hospital, Kharar, since January.
She has two family contacts, her daughter-in-law and grandson. Their samples were taken. The results are awaited.
According to the health department, a team of health workers had surveyed the house of the woman on May 31 during a special drive in the area. At that time, the woman and her family members were asymptomatic.