Everyone, including the doctors, refused to go near Sarojamma and left her in a room meant for dead bodies. She returned to the general ward only after testing negative
Everyone, including the doctors, refused to go near Sarojamma and left her in a room meant for dead bodies. She returned to the general ward only after testing negative
Doctors at KIMS were so scared of contracting H1N1 that they dumped a suspect in a room meant for corpses and then in the HIV ward.
Their defence? "We are also human."
Sarojamma, 52, from Tiptur, was admitted to Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) near V V Puram last Wednesday. She had fever and when doctors suspected swine flu, the hospital staff stopped coming to her. Even the doctors stayed away.
Shankar, Sarojamma's attendant, was told that the patient would have to be isolated and Sarojamma was next seen in a room adjacent to the mortuary.
Her relatives were horrified when hospital staff told them that the room was actually meant for corpses before they were sent to the mortuary.
"When we confronted them, a doctor said they were also human beings and scared to come near her," said Shankar. "They shifted her to a ward after we protested."
But the ward turned out to be for HIV patients, where male and female patients were lumped together.
Here, she was also made to pay Rs 650 for an N95 mask meant for doctors. Patients are asked to use a three-layered mask that is cheaper.
"Again, we had to protest and threatened to go to the Press," said Shankar. "Reluctantly, they shifted her to a special ward on Saturday after sending her throat swab for testing."
The report, which came on Monday (August 24), said Sarojamma was suffering from a urinary infection and the case had nothing to do with H1N1.
That's when the hospital staff quietly shifted her to the general ward, where she is now being treated.
'It was hell'
"I was scared and thought I would die," said Sarojamma who has two daughters and a son.
"The doctors even asked my family members not to come near me. They were also scared and it was hell for me with no one coming near me."
Sarojamma's eldest daughter is a domestic help while the younger one has a housekeeping job in a private firm.
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Her son is an auto driver.
"They were not in a position to understand what the doctors were saying. Their only thought was to not contract the deadly disease," said Shankar.
Hospital's version
A hospital source said, "The authorities are not interested in treating H1N1 patients, but they cannot reject them because there is a strict government order. And that is why we are witnessing all this."
When contacted, Dr Shankar, casualty medical officer at KIMS, said, "Sarojamma is being treated well and she is in the ward."
He said, though she was suspected of having swine flu, the hospital treated her well.
But, he could not tell us why she was taken to the room next to the mortuary.
The Other Side
Complaint first
T S Chaluvaraju, head of the H1N1 monitoring cell, said, "It is compulsory for hospitals to accept H1N1 patients and to treat them well. If we receive a complaint, we can take action against hospitals violating rules."
Commenting on the scared doctors, he said, "It was a similar situation with Aids. The scare subsided when awareness was created. The same thing will happen with H1N1 also."
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