Delhi: Protest at AIIMS as paramedic succumbs to Covid, Swine Flu

NEW DELHI: A 19-year-old AIIMS paramedical student succumbed to Covid-19 and Swine Flu on Friday morning following which students started a protest inside the administrative building of the hospital. The protesters blamed the authorities for not allotting a hostel to the student, which led to his death.
The student, Abhishek Malviya, had joined BSc (optometry) this year. Since last Monday, he had high fever. On the third day, he complained of uneasiness and breathlessness, following which he was brought to the AIIMS emergency and then shifted to the ICU ward. However, he succumbed to the viruses on Friday around 8.30am.
A native of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Malviya was living in a paid accommodation at Mandawali.
“Initially, his Covid report was negative. We came to know that he had Swine Flu too. We are not given a hostel like other students. Had Abhishek been living inside the premises, we could have taken him to the hospital timely. As he couldn’t get an ambulance, he was brought to the emergency department on a bike,” said a fellow batchmate.
Following the protests on Saturday, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria met them and said that Malviya succumbed due to multiple organ failure since he had contracted both Covid-19 and Swine Flu.
“He had severe pneumonia, was positive for H1N1 and Covid-19. I’m aware of the issues brought by the students and the policy needs to be changed to accommodate everyone,” Guleria was heard saying to the protesting students.
Meanwhile, RDA, SYS and SNA of AIIMS issued a joint statement stating that hostels should be provided to each student enrolled under UG, PG and PhD courses and resident doctors as soon as they got admission.
“Hostel accommodation should be universal and not at the cost of another student. In case of acute shortage of hostel accommodation, it can be outsourced to rental outside campus with proper security and technicalities,” the statement read.
Experts had earlier warned of Swine Flu cases in the city. Maharashtra has reported more than 142 cases of Swine Flu and seven deaths so far, while Uttar Pradesh and Kerala have also reported cases.