Son rushes woman to AIIMS after hurried release by pvt hosp ‘over Covid’

Ghaziabad: A 52-year-old woman, who had undergone an abdominal surgery at a private hospital in Raj Nagar on Thursday, was allegedly forcibly discharged from the hospital just a few hours later. Her son claimed the hospital told him she had tested positive for Covid-19.
The hospital management denied that, saying the patient was referred to a higher facility as she had gangrene in her intestine and they did not have a gastro surgeon available.
The HR manager of Gargi Hospital, Deepak Garg, and paediatrician Rahul Garg said the woman’s Covid report came only after she left the hospital. “The woman had gangrene in her intestine and we don’t have a gastro surgeon. We, therefore, asked the family to take her to a higher facility as she was critical. We even waived off the remaining charges when the family told us that they did not have enough money,” Deepak said.
However, the patient’s son, Aditya Gupta, said the hospital discharged her around 10pm, saying she was Covid positive. “The hospital didn’t show us the report and when we demanded it, the staff misbehaved with us. My mother was in an ambulance and we waited till midnight as without the report, it would have been very difficult to admit her elsewhere. But they didn’t pay any heed,” he said, adding that even if she was Covid positive, the hospital couldn’t discharge her just hours after an invasive surgery.
He took her to AIIMS in Delhi where she got admission at 2am on Friday. Gupta said a rapid antigen test showed her to be Covid negative. However, later on Friday evening, she was declared Covid positive after an RT-PCR test and was subsequently shifted to the hospital’s Covid ward.
The patient, a resident of Kailash Nagar, was admitted to the private hospital in Raj Nagar around three days ago after she complained of stomach pain. Doctors advised her to undergo surgery, which was performed on Thursday.
Chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta said the incident had come to his notice, and he would look into it. “Necessary action will be taken after we get a complaint from the family,” he added.