Yashpal Arora, 60 from Moti Nagar fell ill on January 2 with vomiting everything he ate and was admitted by his son Tanuj Arora to a private nursing home close to home and admitted at ICU till 9th, then to general ward till 11th and finally recommended to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RML) due to monetary constraints. 

On January 16, the doctors told that Yashpal had to undergo surgery and conducted a Covid test before the surgery. Yashpal tested positive, but around 8 pm, Tarun was told the hospital had no ICU bed in the Covid ward and that he should take his father to LokNayak Hospital (LNH). They prepared a Leaving Against Medical Advice (LAMA) note, and after confirming at LNH, sent him there. Tanuj reached LNH with his father at 10 pm and handed over the letter. Yashpal was admitted to the Covid ward but asked Tanuj to retrieve my father’s treatment summary from RML at 3.30 am. By the time the doctors began to prepare Yashpal for an operation scheduled for 4.30 am, he breathed his last.

Many patients lose their lives every year, often in the ambulance itself, as a lot of time is wasted in the frantic search for a hospital bed. 15 patients had lost their lives as per case studies collected by The Morning Standard since January 1, 2022, in Delhi due to hospital shunting without a proper referral. 

Even after the low rate of hospitalisation of Covid patients in the third wave, patients are struggling to find a bed in hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital which have a dedicated Covid building and the maximum number of Covid beds respectively. A doctor at LNH said AIIMS, Safdarjung and RML shifted their patients to LNH without any official coordination.

Dr Ritu Saxena, Deputy Medical Director, LNH said that even simple cases reached a complicated stage only because of patient shunting and a lack of referral policy and often misuse of LAMA.

Dr Jugal Kishore, Head of Community Medicine Department, Safdarjung Hospital, said that hospitals in the city were not equipped to treat every patient seeking admission. He blamed AIIMS for shifting patient load to Safdarjung Hospital. Private hospitals referred patients to a government hospital once the patients’ condition deteriorated and their money got exhausted.

Source: The New Indian Express