Covid patients continue to struggle in finding beds

Aurangabad, March 23:

The district administration's move to simplify the process of acquiring beds for Covid-19 patients during emergency seems to be getting complicated due to the absence of coordination and communication gap between the health officials of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). As a result, one patient from Chikalthana had to run from pillar to post in finding the exact location of a bed to get the treatment as early as possible. The patient then informed the scribe about the inconvenience. Meanwhile, the conservation between the doctors and the health personnel revealed that it is not an easy task for people to get a bed in government hospitals.

The administration has circulated the contact numbers of Dr Basit Ali Khan and Piyush Rathod and appealed to the people to contact them regarding beds' availability in the city limit. It so happened that Chikalthana's patient was tested as Covid-19 positive, and he received a message on his cellphone. When his effort to get a bed failed, he contacted the journalist and narrated his grievance. The scribe contacted the contact number of the Control Room provided by the administration, but it was not functioning from 9 am to 2 pm. After making several attempts, the conversation got possible at 2 pm.

The attendant, instead of giving information about beds, told to contact the doctors and health officials and gave their contact numbers.

Earlier, the scribe contacted Dr Basit (at 9.05 am) and informed him about the patient to send the infected person for admission at Government Engineering College with a swab report. He also told to collect the report from the centre where the patient had given his swab sample, as the mobile message is not sufficient. However, when the patient contacted the centre in the Cidco N-2 sector, he was told to contact the officers at Chikalthana.

Prior to the above conversation, the scribe contacted Piyush Rathod (at 9.01 am), and he, inquired about the health condition, told to get admitted to Deogiri College Boys Hostel. In connection with the swab report, Rathod said there is no need as all the details are mentioned in the mobile message.