NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Desperate to get a bed for a relative who tested positive recently, Ashish Kumar repeatedly called up the
Ghaziabad Covid control room. But no one responded. “The administration has floated dozens of phone numbers of officials and those in-charge of various facilities and supplies. But no one responds,” said the
Indirapuram resident.
At a time when finding an ICU bed is almost impossible, most people in Gautam Budh Nagar and Ghaziabad say getting any information from the administration is even harder. For the third straight day, those responding to calls on the integrated
Covid helpline have been saying there are no beds available and officials in-charge of hospitals, ambulance, oxygen supply are hardly taking calls or answering queries.
On Thursday, TOI called up the Covid helplines of both districts seeking help in finding beds for patients. A staffer who took a call on the GB Nagar helpline, which claims it gets about 4,000 calls daily, noted the basic details of the patient after informing that beds were not available. In Ghaziabad, the patient’s relative was given numbers of officers in-charge of hospitals, who in turn, said they could not help in the matter.
“Whatever help we are getting is from the residents’ welfare associations. The administration is missing in action and that too at a time like this, when we need them the most,” Shastri Nagar resident Sanjay Mishra said.
In Ghaziabad, with most senior officials, including district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey and chief medical officer Dr NK Gupta down with Covid, it has become very difficult to get a response from officials who have taken over. The vice-chairperson of
Ghaziabad Development Authority, Krishna Karunesh, who stepped in for the DM recently, said: “I don’t know half the people involved in the system as I am new. I am trying to coordinate things.”
Adding to the residents’ trouble is the absence of a local address proof. Shakti Suman, from Sector 74, Noida, said she had been trying to get her husband Prashant admitted to a Covid hospital since April 22.
“As he is from Madhya Pradesh, his Aadhaar card has the address of our home town. But Prashant has been working in Noida for the past nine years. I could not get him admitted here. Finally, we took him to Agra for treatment,” she said. Suman added that the patient was denied hospital allotment by the integrated control room, despite the fact that the family was ready to provide a copy of their house lease agreement.
Asked if people were being denied admission on the basis of their proof of residence, Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate Suhas LY said there was no such policy.