Death arrives before ambulance for one, hospital out of bounds for another

Nagpur: A Kamptee catonment resident who took up tailoring contracts for the army died before an ambulance could evacuate him. In a parallel event, rules prevented a 50-year-old Covid patient employed in military engineering services (MES) at the cantonment from getting medical aid from military hospital (MH) close by.
When the ambulance reached near the deceased person’s place at Gora Bazaar the first time, it returned. The crew cited lack of formalities, as per the deceased’s kin. By the time the ambulance came again, the person had died.
Likewise, the MES employee had to wait for over five hours for the ambulance to reach Kamptee, 15 kms from Nagpur, and bring her to Government Medical College (GMC) on Saturday, said her kin.
MH at Kamptee is billed to have the biggest general ward in Asia. It was set up in 1937. MES is a part of the army. However, as the employee was a civilian, she was not taken in MH. Her kin and other civilian residents of cantonment said she should have been accommodated in the MH at least in times of emergency like Covid. The hospital is now admitting Covid-19 patients, but is available only for the uniformed personnel and their families. At GMC, the patient told TOI, she got a bed close to midnight.
“After my mother complained of lost taste and smell on July 22, I took her to the cantonment hospital, from where she was referred to the sub-district hospital at Kamptee town for Covid tests. Her turn came only on July 24. The report came on July 25,” said her son.
“She had to be taken to a hospital in Nagpur as MH is not for us. We did not even get ambulance from the MH. The ambulance that I called from outside at 4pm reached at 9:30pm,” he said.
“MH being closer would have been a better option. At GMC, I am totally in dark about her well-being,” he said. Kamptee tehsildar Arvind Hinge told TOI on a request by civilian authorities for allowing access to MH during the crisis, army told them it can happen only with permission of the ministry of defence.
Daughter of the deceased person at Gora Bazar said, “My father was undergoing treatment for fever at a private hospital for over a week. As the fever did not subside, he was asked to get the Covid test done. We got the results on July 24. In a day he started feeling breathless.”
She said when the first ambulance came around 11 am on July 25 the crew asked for a referral letter advising isolation first, which was not given by the hospital where the tests were done. The letter was arranged from cantonment hospital by 2 pm. “The ambulance reached by 4pm but by that time my father was dead. A team from cantonment hospital rushed with oxygen kit but it was too late,” she said.
Deepak Siriya, vice-president of cantonment board, said the man’s report came by July 24 evening but ambulance was not available till next day.