Nurse ‘denied’ admission in hosp dies, strike hits 30 Covid patients

Nagpur: The death of 27-year-old Covid positive nurse Bhagyashree Kore at Mayo Hospital in the early hours of Thursday led to her colleagues at Samarpan Hospital, at Binaki Layout, Itwari Station Road, going on an instant strike. The striking nurses claimed their colleague had been refused admission at the hospital where she worked.
The hospital administration has denied the allegation. The strike affected care of some 30 corona patients admitted at the hospital, since only one nurse turned up on duty, even after the hospital hiked nurses’ salaries 1.5 times.
Kore tested positive on August 20, and had been advised home quarantine. She was admitted at Mayo Hospital four days later and diagnosed with pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). She later suffered acute respiratory failure.
On August 30, Kore had posted a poignant message in the official group of the hospital. “Agar muze kuch ho gaya to iske jimedar aap ho. Kitne bar batai, sab ne dekha par dhyan abhi diya. Aaj meri condition bohot bad hai jawab dene ke liye aap sab tayyar raho (if anything happens to me then you would be responsible. I had repeatedly alerted you all but none paid attention. Today, my condition is bad. Be prepared to justify your actions,” she had said. She further wrote, “I want justice.” Kore had also uploaded a video of herself struggling to breath even with the oxygen supply on.
The young nurse’s death prompted her colleagues to strike work in protest, leaving the 30-bedded Dedicated Covid Hospital struggling.
One of the Kore’s colleague, Ashwin Kale, who identified himself as her ‘brother’, claimed the nurse was turned away by the hospital where she had been serving for almost a year now.
Kale and a few others thronged Pachpaoli police station and also met other authorities to lodge a complaint against the hospital management. “The hospital first refused her admission saying beds were full. Later, they claimed they didn’t have ventilator. Later, they demanded Rs15,000 per day when her salary is only Rs7,000,” he said.
Samarpan Hospital sources refuted all charges. They said Kore had tested negative twice before testing positive on August 20. She was advised home isolation by Mayo Hospital doctors. She was admitted at Mayo on August 24. Nagpur Municipal Corporation allowed Samarpan Hospital to admit Covid patients only on August 28, they said.
Dr Prasanna Borkar, a director at the hospital, said Kore’s brother had met him on August 30, and was to meet him again the following day. “On August 31, he did not turn up, but we had called up. On September 1, her health improved, but deteriorated on Wednesday. She was intubated and also on ventilator, hence it was difficult to shift her,” said Dr Borkar.
“Now, I have also relented to the pressure tactics of the nurses and agreed to increase the salaries 1.5 times. But still only one nurse turned up,” he said.