Bengaluru man tweets SOS video after uncle dies

BENGALURU: Following the death of nearly 15 Covid-19 patients due to alleged nonavailability of beds in Chalavadipalya ward near Chamarajpet, a resident of the locality has made a video appeal to the government to bail out people like him in the ward as they can’t afford private hospitals.
Lakshamayya, a labourer and resident of Chalavadipalya, posted his video appeal on Twitter after he lost his 45-year-old uncle Ramesh P to Covid-19. The video has gone viral. Lakshamayya said he only wanted to share the ordeal people in his area are going through. He said Ramesh was suffering from tuberculosis and on July 30 he complained of stomach ache and had been vomiting. “We took him to SDS Tuberculosis Research Center and Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, but there was no doctor available,” he claimed.
Ramesh worked as housekeeping staff in a private hospital which too declined to admit him stating that it had no vacant beds. The hospital did not budge even though it was told that he was their employee. The hospital did not respond to calls and messages from TOI.
“We went to another private hospital which said it was ready to admit the patient, but bed charges would be Rs 18,800 per day. I assumed that it included treatment and medicine, but they clarified that was just bed and nursing charges. I decided to admit him there, but the hospital asked us for an advance of Rs 80,000 which we couldn’t not afford,” Lakshamayya narrated. “With no options left, we headed to another private hospital in Rajajinagar. While I was begging the hospital staff to admit my uncle, he died,” he said.
“Local clinics remain shut and patients are forced to visit government hospitals. Most people here are from below poverty line and can’t afford private hospitals,” said Jhansi, Slum Mahila Sangatane’s coordinator for the ward.