Family alleges they could not get her the drug despite her showing symptoms as her report was delayed; when it did arrive, it said negative
Sawant’s husband Rajesh says the BMC gave him a letter saying she was a suspected positive patient, for admission to the BKC COVID centre
The family of a 41-year-old woman has claimed that she died because she was not given a remdesivir injection, as doctors insisted they could not give it unless they had her COVID-19 test report, but it was delayed by the BMC. She had been admitted to the Jumbo COVID Centre at BKC on April 10, and her husband finally got the report on Thursday, a day after she died at a private hospital. Shockingly, the report says she is COVID negative.
According to Rajesh Sawant, his wife Rajeshwari had symptoms of the virus. “As she was complaining of difficulty in breathing, I took her to a BMC centre for a COVID test on April 10. Her antigen test was negative but the doctor told us to get the RT-PCR test done. In the evening I received a call from the R South municipal ward office war room to get my wife admitted to the COVID centre at Bandra Kurla Complex, as doctors suspected she had COVID,” said Sawant.
Shifts her to private hospital
The Charkop resident claimed that for admission purposes, the BMC gave him a letter stating his wife was a suspected positive patient, and needed treatment and isolation. A civic source said this is a routine practice as patients can be admitted. Along with the letter that said she was a suspected COVID-19 patient, Sawant was given a document for referral of a ‘COVID positive case’ that said the patient had a history of cough, body ache and stomach ache but does not mention the swab test date.
Rajesh Sawant claims the RT-PCR report was delayed and when it came after Rajeshwari’s death, it said she had tested negative
Sawant said a day later, Rajeshwari complained that the treatment there was unsatisfactory. “After realising that she was not getting good treatment at the BKC centre, I decided to transfer my wife to some other facility. At the time of discharge, she was given a computerized report with COVID-19 RT-PCR positive written on it. In reality no tests were carried out before her discharge here as well,” claimed Sawant.
Sawant managed to admit her to a private hospital in Malad on April 13. A doctor here asked him for a report stating Rajeshwari was COVID-19 positive patient. But Sawant told him he hadn’t got the RT-PCR report.
“On Tuesday the doctors asked me to get the remdesivir injection as her condition had worsened. But they said a letter saying she was a suspected positive patient was insufficient for the administration of the injection. I tried to get the report but the BMC again told me that it had not arrived,” said Sawant.
“My wife died on Wednesday as she did not get the injection on time. On Thursday I called the BMC officials again and asked for the report. The report came but shockingly, it’s negative,” added Sawant.
BMC speak
When contacted, Dr Vishal Deshmukh, assistant medical officer R South ward, said she should have first been treated. “As her oxygen level was going down, she was having trouble breathing. The parameters of the patient were pointing towards COVID-19 symptoms, so it was very important to treat her first,” said Dr Deshmukh.
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