COVID positive lady left to her lurch questions protocol
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, August 13 2020: A COVID-19 positive patient has raised questions about the Government's COVID protocol and handling of those tested positive by hospitals.

Alleging she was left alone and forced to arrange her own transportation to a COVID Care Centre, the 47-year-old COVID patient who is receiving treatment at the centre at Lamboikhongnangkhong asserted there is serious communication gap between hospitals and health authority and questioned if the hospitals are following the protocol.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, she said she hails from Charangpat and she tested positive for COVID-19 on August 12 early morning at Raj Medicity.

Narrating her ordeal over the phone, the COVID patient said she along with other family members had visited Imphal Hospital on August 11 for dialysis of her mother who is a kidney patient.

On reaching Imphal Hospital, they were informed that they needed to show COVID-19 negative certificate to admit her mother.

"The hospital authority told us that we need to show COVID-19 negative certificate issued by competent authority to admit my mother.

Further they told us that the COVID-19 test at the hospital would take at least 2 days for the results to arrive," she said.

Then she went to Raj Medicity after communicating with the hospital's customer care executives.

The hospital also demanded COVID-19 negative certificate.

As the hospital had COVID testing facility, her mother was brought at the hospital for testing and further treatment.

Her mother tested negative and was admitted in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at around 9 pm of August 11.As she needed to attend to her mother during her stay at the Raj Medicity, she was also asked to get tested for COVID-19 by the hospital.

Following the advice, her sample was collected for testing at night.

She spent the night in the parking space inside their car along with her younger brother and daughter-in-law waiting for the result.

The early morning next day (August 12), one of the staff of Raj Medicity informed her that she has tested COVID-19 positive.

She was then told to "leave" the place as there is no isolation ward for COVID-19 in the hospital.

When she asked if the hospital could make the arrangement to get her to a designated COVID Care Centre, the hospital staff flatly "refused" to take responsibility.

"They flatly refused to take responsibility.

They said the hospital can't do anything regarding transportation and I was asked to arrange the transportation on my own.

They again asked me to leave the hospital premises," she said.

Raj Medicity however has clarified that the patient was not told to leave the hospital premises.

She was asked to wait and informed that the hospital was contacting the authority concerned about her case.

When the hospital was contacting the authority concerned, she left the hospital premises.

And later, one person approached the hospital authority and asked to discharge the mother.

As per the request, the mother was also discharged on LAMA (Leave Against Medical Advice).

After that, she sat on the veranda of a shop located some distance away from the hospital for around 5 hours.

To avoid contact with passers-by, she had to constantly Ward off people and told them to stay away, she said.

She then contacted people in her locality and asked the local club for help.

Local MLA (Wangkhem AC) got involved and at around noon, an ambulance arrived at Raj Medicity and picked her up.

She was then brought to the COVID Care Centre at Lamboikhongnangkhong, she said.

In the evening, she received a phone call from CMO Imphal and enquired her whereabouts, she added.

Stating she had to spend hours after testing positive by herself, exposed and putting the health of innocent people at risk, she asserted that the way the Government, health authority and the hospitals are handling the pandemic is condemnable.

"If I had not ward off those passers-by when I was by myself waiting for help, I could have been a spreader.

My test result was known in the early morning and yet there was no response and attempt to evacuate me to COVID Care Centre from the hospital or the health authority.

I had to spend hours and arrange my own transport.

Such lapses may be the reason why there is community transmission in Manipur today," she asserted.

"I was harassed, discriminated against and left on my own by the hospital today.

The hospitals should have taken responsibility and alerted the health authority concerned to transport me to COVID Care Centre and minimise risk of spread of the disease," she said.

The State Government must enforce its protocol regarding the disease strictly and monitor the functioning and handling of COVID and non-COVID cases by the hospitals, she added.

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