By Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi, April 10 : Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a group of prominent health and human rights activists and doctors, on Thursday slammed the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government for denying healthcare to critical patients and sudden discharging them from hospitals without alternate arrangements. Referring to a death of patient, JSA stated that it is important to provide best possible care for COVID-19 patients but it cannot be on the cost of several critical other patients.
There are media reports that patients from three hospitals run by the Delhi Government — Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), GB Pant and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality — were asked to vacate at a short notice. Many of the patients complained that they had been asked to leave without any alternative arrangements of admissions. Many of these patients were admitted in ICUs and are in need of critical care. Only few of the discharged patients could get alternative admissions and the rest were left without healthcare. At least one death has been reported as a patient.
It is to recall that in his press conference on April 7, 2020, Chief Minister Kejriwal had designated the above these hospitals as dedicated hospitals for COVID-19. The total bed capacity of these hospitals comes to nearly 1800 beds. GB Pant and Rajiv Gandhi are tertiary care super speciality referral hospitals. Most of the patients admitted there would have exhausted other options in the public health sector.
They need to be urgently admitted to alternative public hospitals equipped to provide critical care at the earliest, said Dr. Vikas Vajpayi, a professor and public health activist. Speaking with Muslim Mirror, Dr Vajpayi said this is “an attempt to abdicate state responsibility towards citizens in the guise of a public health emergency”. Condemning this step of the Delhi government, he being himself doctor, such patients who underwent surgery or in critical conditions need special care and other cannot admit them without any referral. He said the government should ensure to accommodate all patients from these hospitals urgently and ensure continuity of their treatment.
Echoing his views, Raman VR, National Convenor, Public Health Resource Network, said general critical patients cannot be ignored by citing the health emergency.
“While it is important to provide best possible care for COVID patients, it cannot be on the cost of several other needy patients, compromising both ongoing and emergency care that they are entitled to ” Raman said.
He underlined the fact as on April 8, Delhi has 547 active COVID positive cases out of which a certain fraction would need critical care.
Dr. Ritu Priya, Prof of Public Health, JNU, noted that the public health system needs to be prepared for an increasing number of cases well in advance. That does not mean patients have to be vacated with such urgency without making alternative arrangements for their care. This is epidemiologically unwarranted, and unethical, she added.
Advocate and right activist, Ashok Agarwal said denial of health care is violation of human rights.
“Such denial of health services by the government would be tantamount to violation of human rights.”
“Public hospitals should be taking full responsibility of the patients, identify alternative hospitals and beds for them and arrange ambulances to transport them. There is an existing system of free beds available in the private sector. Why were such provisions not utilised?” asks Dr. Vandana Prasad, a leading public health activist and community paediatrician.
Dr Sonali Vaid, public health expert, asked that just like the government has dedicated Covid hospitals, there needs to be transparency on where people should go for regular non-covid needs.
She lamented that right now patients are being shuttled from one hospital to another, some are even walking to hospitals due to lack of transport in the lockdown. Some OPDs are functional with altered timings but this is not known publicly. Patients are turned away by security guards and do not even get to talk to a medical practitioner.
In this regard, Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, suggested that the government needs to maintain a triage system to tackle the COVID-19 situation. Converting big hospitals like LNJP and GB Pant into specific COVID-19 hospitals and discharging other patients is unfair.
Dr Bhatti told Muslim Mirror that, “Our public healthcare system was intentionally neglected and now is not equipped to handle the added pressure that corona pandemic has created.”
The government has to take responsibility of patients suffering from ailments such as heart and kidney diseases, cancers and other infections. Instead of discharging those patients, the government must have made some alternative arrangements,” said Dr Bhatti, National President, Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum (PMSF).
JSA urged the government to ensure the critically ill patients, patients who are on ventilators or need specialised care be provided health care and in case patients need to be shifted out, alternative admissions for them must be ensured with full responsibility for safe transfer and continuity of care.
The activists said they understand that COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease and Delhi’s health system needs to be prepared for every eventuality, it cannot be done at the cost of other patients who are in equal need of medical attention and for whom the risk of mortality is equal or higher
Therefore, they demand that: “If patients are shifted to private hospitals, then they must be treated free of cost. Government should make use of Railway, Army, ESIS and other available hospitals to tide over increasing patient loads, and
Patients who suffer from chronic illnesses and those who are critically ill, for instance those who need dialysis, cancer patients, and others must be ensured proper treatment and management of the disease.