Patients’ Covid ward woes go viral

BELAGAVI: The alleged pathetic conditions at Covid wards in the government hospitals has pushed several patients to the edge. They are desperate to get out of the wards as soon as possible. Many messages and videos exposing the plight of patients and the sad state of affairs at the designated hospitals have gone viral.

A day after a 65-year-old patient died writhing in pain on the floor of a Covid ward at the Belgaum Institute of Mecical Sciences (BIMS), social networking sites are flooded with requests from patients to help them come out of the hospital and take them back home.

The patient had been allegedly asked to arrange for his own “attendee’’ at the Covid ward. The patient was admitted to BIMS last Thursday and his wife (who was not a Covid-19 patient) doubled as an attendee until he succumbed a week later on Thursday. For almost a week, she attended her Covid-19 positive husband, whose condition was extremely critical till his last moments. The family members are waiting for her test results.

A youth from Athani tweeted on Saturday saying, “I was admitted to BIMS yesterday. Given the unhygienic condition of the Covid ward here, I am sure to get infected by various other diseases. Please shift me to Athani.’’ Speaking to The New Sunday Express, BIMS Director Vinay Dastikop said, “The hospital has enough staff to attend to all the Covid-19 patients. We have not asked patients to get their own attendees.

The attendees are needed only in the case of paediatric patients. The positive patients are attended to effectively in the hospital.’’ Deputy Commissioner M G Hiremath said that to streamline healthcare facilities for Covid-19 patients, Covid Care Centres have been set up in 10 taluks of Belagavi where asymptomatic patients will be admitted. The positive patients in critical condition who need regular care and treatment only are being shifted to BIMS, he added. According to the DC, facilities to house Covid patients are made at KLE Hospital and ESI Hospital too.