SOS calls in vain, patients die waiting for hospital admission in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: Shortage of beds in Covid hospitals continued to claim lives of patients in the city on Sunday. Though critical care beds were increased, critical cases also rose rapidly due to the surge.
As a result, while many were fighting for life at home, those who got beds in L1 (moderate care) Covid hospitals made desperate pleas for transfer to L3 Covid facilities with intensive care unit (ICU) or ventilator facility.
As Shyam Narain Gupta (74), a Covid-19 patient, gasped for breath at home with blood oxygen level dropping to 81% on Sunday morning, his son Rishabh Gupta, an engineering student, made desperate SOS calls to Integrated Covid Command Control Centre (ICCC) to get a bed in any government or private hospital but failed.
“Finally, a non-Covid hospital agreed to admit my father as an emergency case but by the time we reached there, his condition deteriorated and he could not survive,” said an inconsolable Rishabh.
Ravi Kumar (70), a multiple myeloma patient, tested Covid-19 positive on April 20. He experienced breathlessness on Saturday. “I went from one hospital to another but all units refused to admit him. Immediate medical attention would have saved his life, but we couldn’t save him despite having all the resources,” said his son Ankit, a research scholar in Lucknow University.
AA Ali (70) died at home waiting for a call from ICCC for allotment of a critical care bed for last two days. “Despite using all our resources, we could not get a bed in a private hospital. We contacted the chief medical officer’s (CMO) office on Friday but no help came. He passed away on Sunday morning,” said Ali’s son Ashfaq.
The blood oxygen level of SP Srivastava, a resident of Sector A, Mahanagar, dipped to 70% on Sunday evening. However, the family’s SOS to ICCC was not addressed till late night. Family members of Avanti Kumar, 70, who is under treatment at a hospital in Gomtinagar, said his oxygen level dropped to 40 without support and doctors advised that he should be shifted to a ventilator facility. However, no beds were available in any critical care facility.
Vivek Singh (54) was admitted to a private hospital in Indiranagar after being diagnosed with Covid-19. However, when his condition deteriorated on April 20, his family sent an SOS to the CMO office requesting that the patient be shifted to a critical care facility. “We are still waiting for a response,” said Vikas, a relative of Vivek.
The district administration officers said all efforts were being made to allot beds to patients based on the seriousness of their condition.