BENGALURU: A 57-year-old
woman died of acute dehydration
and
plummeting pulse rate
on Thursday at her
Fraser Town residence
, as she could not get
timely treatment
. Jaya Lakshmi’s family blamed the strike by private doctors and hospitals, which had shut their OPDs.
“Jaya Lakshmi N had loose motions and suffered acute dehydration throughout Wednesday night. We could not get an ambulance either. In the morning, her condition appeared to have improved, but it worsened again. As doctors were on strike, we called a home health care service, Care on Call, and a doctor came home and checked her condition. He suggested immediate hospitalization as she needed to be put on ventilator,” said Amarnath N, her elder brother.
When Amarnath went to a private hospital, Seventh-Day Adventist Medical Centre, near their home seeking admission, he was allegedly told not to bring the patient as there was no doctor around to provide treatment.
“The hospital staff asked me to go to a bigger hospital. They said their doctors were not in, and they could not admit my sister. I was back on the road wondering where to go. Around 2pm, I got a call from home and was told that she had passed away,” Amarnath told TOI.
On reaching home, Amarnath once again called the Care on Call doctor, who arrived and declared her dead. “Whose fault is it? My sister died as the nearest private hospital refused to admit her. This area has been getting contaminated drinking water and civic agencies must also be blamed,” he lamented.
When TOI called Seventh-Day Adventist Medical Care Centre, a staffer replied saying that no person called Amarnath or Jaya Lakshmi had approached them and there was no instance of treatment being denied. “There have been no admissions today, though,” he added.