GETTING NO HELP HERE, FAMILY DRIVES TO SANGLI AFTER MEMBER TESTS +VE

After CoEP jumbo facility denied admission over lack of prescription, man drives positive father, mother with symptoms, wife, month-old baby to other district, where his sister has a hospital; PMC officials justify systems in place

With Pune district reeling from the pandemic as one of the reportedly worst-hit spots in the country, major hopes have been pinned on the efficacy of COVID-19 jumbo facilities here to treat patients, not just for the city but also areas around it. However, in an incident exemplifying the reality of conditions on ground, an entire family had to travel all the way from Pune city to Sangli for medical care, after a positive senior citizen among them was rejected admission at hospitals here, including the jumbo facility at College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP).

Not just did the 34-year-old man, who dabbles in agriculture-related business, have to rush his elderly parents to the next district when they were showing symptoms, but his wife and one-month-old baby had to travel in the same car with them, as they had no other option. By the time they reached their destination, where the man’s sister is a doctor, he tested viruspositive as well. Now, the entire family is under home quarantine at a farmhouse in Sangli.

Meanwhile, justifying their handling of the situation, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) officials stated that no one can enter their CoEP centre without a consultation between the civic body’s doctor deputed at the dedicated call centre for the jumbo facility and the patient’s referring doctor. The travails began for Tejomay Ghadge in the last week of August, when his father (61) developed coronavirus symptoms.

As the senior citizen had undergone an angioplasty in the same month, the family chose to be cautious and started medications prescribed by Tejomay’s sister, a doctor in Sangli. Within days, however, his father’s oxygen level started deteriorating. Tejomay immediately took the older man to Deenanth Mangeshkar Hospital for an examination, where a rapid antigen test was done and the diagnosis came positive for COVID-19. Given his co-morbidities and current condition, he was advised admission at a facility with oxygen support and an intensive care unit (ICU). Since there were no beds available at Deenanath, Tejomay immediately called up PMC’s COVID-19 call centre and submitted a request for bed. Soon, he got a call back asking him to go to CoEP jumbo facility for admission.

On Saturday evening, Tejomay visited the jumbo facility to get his father admitted; by then, his mother (53) had also developed symptoms, and was accompanying them. But, when he arrived at the facility, admission was rejected — staff said they cannot admit a patient without a prescription from PMC. Then, Tejomay was advised to go to Naidu Hospital to obtain the said prescription. Considering his father’s suffering, Ghadge asked several private hospitals to check for bed availability — but in vain.

Finally, seeing little light on the horizon, Tejomay bought personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for his entire family and drove all the way to Sangli, where his sister owns a hospital. After arriving there, Tejomay and his mother also tested positive for COVID-19. What added to his woes was the fact that he had to take his wife and month-old baby along in the same car, since leaving them alone back at home for a long period with no help was simply not an option. Fortunately, they both tested negative for the virus.

Sharing his plight, Tejomay narrated, “I followed the system. I took my ailing father to the facility, only to be denied admission. With no beds available in private hospitals and the jumbo facility denying admission, I had no option but to drive to Sangli. I thought my sister would be able to take proper care of us. But, driving with my newborn baby, wife, ailing father and symptomatic mother was highly risky. If only I had received proper healthcare in Pune, we wouldn’t have had to go through this. The fact that I had also developed symptoms and had to drive in that condition added to the entire problem.”

At present, the family has been put under quarantine at a farmhouse in Sangli, with the wife and child in a separate room from the three positive cases. Tejomay said that while his father’s condition is stable and he did not require admission, they could have been given proper advice in Pune itself, instead of being subjected to red tape that causes panic.

Meanwhile, officials clarified that this admission system has been put in place to stop beds from being used up without concrete reason. Rajendra Muthe, head of the PMC land and estates department and current nodal officer at the CoEP jumbo facility, explained, “We need a reference from a doctor to admit a patient, as per protocol. Even if someone has been referred for hospitalisation, the medical professional who is doing so needs to talk to our doctor from the call centre. This is to ensure that no one enters the facility without actual need for hospitalisation. We are getting many such requests. Therefore, we have put a system in place to ensure no random admissions, so that genuine cases do not end up facing a shortage of beds.”