Bengaluru: ‘Give us a bed, dad is doing his best to breathe’

BENGALURU: It was a heartrending scene on the road: A management graduate was pleading with passersby to help her get an ICU bed for her 52-year-old father who was struggling to breathe and hoping that a miracle would save him. But the city’s oxygen-bed infrastructure failed him and he died waiting in vain for 18 hours to get a bed.
His daughter Ashwini requested everyone, including passersby and mediapersons, to save her father by arranging a bed for him. “My dad is doing to his best to breathe, help us. Please sir, ondu bed maadi kodi (arrange for one bed),” she appealed with folded hands.
Her father Venkataramana, a resident of Prakashnagar in Rajajinagar, had tested positive for Covid 11 days ago and was in home isolation. His younger son Karthik V, a firstyear BCom student, told TOI: “He was recovering and was under medication. We did not shift him to a hospital as he seemed fine. But around 2am on Tuesday, he started finding it difficult to breathe.” Realising that he required immediate hospitalisation, the family started searching for one.
“We tried calling up the BBMP helpline but it was of no use. While we tried contacting hospitals through the night, my father was gasping for breath. Later in the morning, when his oxygen saturation level decreased to 44%, we ran out of options and took him to KC General Hospital and pleaded with the authorities to admit him. But our pleas were turned down as the hospital said admission is possible only if it’s referred by BBMP,” Karthik said. Though the family had the BU number and SRF ID, the authorities reportedly maintained only the Palike can block a bed in a patient’s name.
“We went in search of oxygen in our vehicle and around noon, reached the government hospital near Srirampura Metro station. While the hospital staff said there were no ventilators or ICU beds to treat him, they allowed us to use two oxygen cylinders in an ambulance. That gave us some hope and we renewed our search for beds,” Karthik said.
Ashwini repeatedly called 1912 and 108 helplines. “We received a response once, they took down the details and said a bed would be arranged. But we never got any call from them,” she said.
While Venkataramana’s condition worsened and the chances of getting an ICU bed became bleak, the family got to know that an ambulance with oxygen was available. But while heading towards Yelahanka, our father died around 6pm,” said Karthik.