Chaos at SCB hospital as patients’ relatives refused entry into Covid ward

CUTTACK: Chaos prevailed at SCB Covid hospital here on Monday after patients’ relatives were denied entry into the ward. Alleging gross irregularities and mismanagement by the staff, relatives of the patients created a ruckus and also staged a dharna on the hospital premises. One of the protestors said his elderly father is on oxygen support for the last three days.

“The security guards asked me to leave the ward at 3.30 am on Sunday. The hospital staff serve the food on a paper plate and place it on my father’s bed. But how can he eat  as he is unable to move,” he questioned and added that attendants engaged by the hospital through outsourcing agencies are not attending to the patients properly. 

Chandrakant Singh of Firangi Bazar said he had admitted his 47-year-old elder brother to the hospital on Sunday after the latter’s oxygen level fell drastically. “On Monday morning when I went to see my brother, I was denied permission by the security personnel. I then called the emergency number for an hour but failed to know about my brother’s health condition. Later I came to know from photos and videos that have gone viral that the food on a paper place and a water bottle were kept on his bed near his head even as he is unable to move,” said Singh. 

Singh said he requested the security personnel to let him enter the ward so that he could feed his brother but the latter did not budge. “I told them that my patient is nervous and will get some mental strength if I talked to him from a distance but in vain. The security guards also refused to hand over a phone to my elder brother so that he could talk to me,” he said. As the situation worsened, authorities rushed to the spot and assured the patients’ relatives that a meeting would be convened to take a decision on whether they should be allowed into the Covid ward or not. “We decided to allow the relatives of patients to enter the Covid ward subject to certain conditions,” said SCB Superintendent Prof Lucy Das. 

The relatives will have to undergo rapid antigen test before they are allowed to enter the ward. If found positive, they will be admitted to the ward and those who test negative will be allowed to meet the patients. But once they enter the ward, they cannot leave it till their patients are discharged from the hospital, she said.