26-year-old boy dies in Karimganj COVID Hospital; Family blames lack of treatment, "suffered a cardiac arrest," says Super

Early morning, a 26-year-old businessman breathed his last at the Covid ward inside Karimganj Civil Hospital. Ashutosh Banik a Patherkandi Station Road resident had tested positive for COVID19 on May 1 and was admitted to the Hospital on May 5. Not only him, his brother, sister, mother were all admitted at once on May 5.

“After treatment at home for three days, we went to the Patherkandi Hospital for the test. There, all four of them tested positive and after that, they were transferred to the COVID ward of Karimganj Civil Hospital,” said Dulal Banik, maternal uncle of Ashutosh Banik.

The 26-year-old’s sudden death has shocked the family members and other patients in the COVID ward. The family members have accused the treating doctors of gross negligence and blamed the lackluster attitude of the medical staff for the young boy’s untimely demise. “Ashutosh Banik’s brother and sister, who are admitted to the hospital went and begged the doctors to attend him when he started feeling unwell. The doctors did not attend him. Only after his body got cold, they came in with an injection. But it was too late for him to revive. Just for the show, they brought an oxygen cylinder but that was empty. Later they replaced it with a new one, but by then, he was not in the condition to inhale. He was declared dead in the wee hours,” added Dulal Banik.

The family members have also alleged that an important drug was not administered to him. “The drug was prescribed on May 5, but they only gave it to him on Sunday. For so long, they kept saying it is not there in the drug store,” added Dulal Banik. Video footage shows that the hospital’s COVID ward is an uncleaned mess. The patients also said that the food provided inside is horrible and the toilets have no water. The situation is such that a healthy person will fall sick inside the hospital.

His oxygen saturation levels, according to family members, were 97 -98% on pulse oximeter on the day of admission and last night it got dropped to 93 -94. “If my nephew was shifted to Silchar Medical College and Hospital’s ICU, he would have successfully recovered by now. My brother’s condition was worse, but at SMCH, he has recovered well,” said Dulal Banik, Ashutosh Banik’s maternal uncle.

Patients do get referred to Silchar Medical College and Hospital but only when they are symptomatic and need advanced treatment. “The boy was not symptomatic, he used to walk around fit and fine inside the hospital premises,” informs Dr. Arunava Choudhury, superintendent of Karimganj Civil Hospital. “In this case, he suffered a sudden cardiac arrest which claimed his life,” Dr. Choudhury added.

He informed that there is an adequate number of Remdesivir injections available in the hospital. “But the anti-viral drug is only administered when the patient is symptomatic and is advised by the doctor. In the case of the 26-year-old patient, it was not prescribed,” added Dr. Arunava Choudhury. “He was not suffering from any other co-morbidities. In the past also we have observed that COVID patients suffer sudden cardiac arrest and succumb,” the superintendent added. He also informed that the hospital has oxygen cylinders and concentrators for emergency purposes.

Police officials had to intervene after chaos broke at the hospital following the death of the 26-year-old. Family members said that the Police officials have abused them, shooed them away with Lathi. A behaviour they did not expect, especially after they lost their family members.

Dr. Anup Kr. Daitary Joint Director Health Services, Karimganj said that the Police were not called by the administration, however, internal security might have asked for reinforcement. “We understand the emotional outburst of the family after they lost a member. Currently, the situation is normal in the hospital and we are now focussing on how to cremate the deceased with honour and dignity,” said joint director, Daitary.

About cleanliness and mess, the joint director threw the ball in the court of the patients. “There are dustbins inside the ward, now if someone chooses to throw garbage elsewhere it will be a mess. We are cleaning the mess regularly is all I would say,” asserted Daitary.

Though the blame game will continue for a few more days, the moral of the story is that a 26-year-old who was presented with SPO2 97% could not be saved. This exposes the vulnerability as well as the loopholes in the health infrastructure.