Kolkata: 84-year-old woman dies waiting for Covid report

KOLKATA: An 84-year-old from Kasba awaiting a Covid test report, which eventually was found to be positive, died gasping at her home on Thursday evening before the report arrived, after a desperate and futile search for a bed and oxygen throughout the day. The trauma, however, did not end there as the woman’s body began decomposing in the heat and humidity as it lay in the first-floor apartment, waiting for cremation at a Covid facility. A hearse finally arrived after 16 hours on Friday afternoon, by which time stench and panic had spread in the neighbourhood.
The incident in Haltu’s Jadavgarh reflected the plight of patients around the city and the challenge the administration is facing in providing sufficient number of beds and adequate oxygen support.

Suffering from high-grade fever since Monday, the woman took a rapid antigen test at a KMC clinic on Wednesday morning. “We were told my mother had Covid-19 symptoms, but weren’t provided with a report,” said her son, who works as a sales executive in a private firm.
When she developed further complications and complained of respiratory distress hours later, the absence of a report posed a huge challenge.
“All of Wednesday, we rushed to multiple hospitals, including MR Bangur, SSKM, Shambhunath Pandit and Beliaghata ID Hospital, along with a few local nursing homes, but were denied admission everywhere. The Covid hospitals refused us in the absence of a report and other hospitals said they didn’t have beds to spare,” the woman’s son said.
The family contacted a local doctor on Thursday morning, who advised immediate oxygen support as her oxygen saturation had dropped below 80%. “We tried to get an oxygen cylinder and did the rounds of pharmacies and oxygen suppliers. But we couldn’t manage one till the evening,” he said.
The family finally managed an oxygen cylinder from an acquaintance in Kasba, but by the time it arrived, the elderly homemaker had died. “I was so glad I could finally offer her some relief. But when I reached home, she was no more,” her son said, adding that the Covid report came three hours later, around 11.15pm, saying his mother was Covid positive.
The trauma didn’t end with her death, however. Despite calls to the local police station, KMC office and state health department, none came to collect the body before 12.30pm on Friday, more than 16 hours after she died. The body was in a first-floor room sealed from outside, but decomposition had begun and the foul smell had engulfed the neighbourhood by morning.
Three other members in the joint family are suffering from Covid. While the man’s elder brother and sister-in-law are hospitalized, his younger brother is in home isolation.
Tarun Mondal, former councillor and coordinator of ward 105, said the family approached him after the woman died. “The test report was lying at the testing centre. Possibly, due to pressure of testing and patients, there was a delay in sending it to the family. When I learnt about the incident, I contacted the ward officer and made arrangements to open the clinic after office hours to get the report delivered. There was also a delay in getting a hearse from the health department. This is not an ideal situation, but we all need to understand the kind of emergency we are dealing with,” said Mondal.