Mumbai: Relatives of Covid-19 victims ask govt to not rub salt on their wounds

Even as the Centre claimed this week that there have been no Covid19 deaths due to oxygen shortage and the Maharashtra government backed it on Thursday families of those who died in hospital due to alleged oxygen shortage in April have said that the government is lying The second wave was filled with scenes of oxygen shortages at hospitals treating Covid19 patientsIn midApril seven people admitted to the ICU at Vinayaka Hospital died within a span of three hours While relatives alleged that the deaths were due to lack of oxygen the hospital said the patients were all brought in a critical conditionldquoI lost my father who was admitted to the ICU of Vinayaka Hospital in Nalasopara The hospital ran out of oxygen and they did not inform us on time else I would have taken him to another hospital or arranged oxygen at homerdquo said Rahul VermaRelatives outside Vinayaka Hospital in Nalasopara East on April 12 PicsHanif PatelRam Babu Verma 55 was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition on April 5 after his oxygen concentration level dipped to 45 ldquoBut he was recovering in the ICUrdquo said his wife Rekha 52Rahul said ldquoHis oxygen level had reached around 90 and he was about to get discharged from the hospital in the next few days On April 12 I got numerous calls from the hospital staff asking me to pay the bending bill but they did not tell me that my father had diedrdquo he saidldquoI was asked to immediately reach the hospital in the afternoon I saw a number of patientsrsquo relatives in a state of panic But the guards did not let us insiderdquo said Rahul who is a plumber ldquoI learned from the nearby tea shop that the hospital has been out of oxygen for four hours This terrified me as my father was on oxygen supportrdquo he saidIn response to relativesrsquo claims of oxygen shortage Vinayaka Hospital said that the seven patients who died were brought in a critical conditionWhen Rahul managed to reach the ICU he saw doctors trying to revive his father who was lying motionless ldquoMy father was already dead when I entered the ICU but I was kept in the dark by the hospital staff I suspect that my father died around 10 am on April 12 but the doctors informed me around 530 pm and his body was given to us by 10 pmrdquo said RahulRam was a tailor by profession After Ramrsquos death Rahul and Rekha have preserved his sewing machine as a token of his memory ldquoWe donrsquot lie like the politicians who say there were no deaths of Covid19 patients due to oxygen shortages Why then did a number of patients admitted to the ICU die within a few hoursrdquo Rahul saidldquoThe government is talking based on documents that can be manipulated for vested interests They should come and ask me about the oxygen emergency I lost the head of my family please donrsquot make fun of our emotionsrdquo Rahul saidRekha added ldquoEven as the hospital says that the deceased were brought to the hospital in a critical condition two or three days before his death the doctors had told me that my husband will be discharged in two days My husband was not critical But who will listen to usrdquoToday Rahul provides for the house through his plumbing work The family also lost Ramrsquos mother six days after his deathlsquoWhite liesrsquoRizwan Qadri 51 who used to work at a pharmacy was among the dead at Vinayaka Hospital ldquoWe are from Malwani but could not find a bed in Mumbai We were very happy to get a bed at Vinayaka Hospitalrdquo said his wife Rashida ldquoMy sisterinlaw Shaheen Hadadi used to take food from Mohammed Ali Road to Nalasopara for him She was not allowed to enter the hospitalrdquo she saidRizwan Qadri in the ICU of Vinayaka HospitalldquoMy husband died in the ICU as the hospital ran out of oxygen We saw the readings on the monitor in the ICU were nil Yet the doctors lied to us and said they are reviving himrdquo she said adding ldquoHe must have died around noon but the doctors confirmed his death around 6 pmrdquoldquoThose who are making baseless comments saying no one died due to lack of oxygen during the second wave are telling a white lie If you canrsquot heal our wounds at least donrsquot make irresponsible comments which hurt a bereaved familyrdquo said Rashida who used to take tuitions but after Rizwanrsquos death scared parents stopped sending their kids to her Rashida is raising two sons with the help of relatives as the family currently has no incomelsquoWanted speedy recoveryrsquoRanjanben Shah was also among those gasping for air at Vinayaka Hospital Her niece Krishna Patel said ldquoHer oxygen level was improving But the hospital ran out of oxygen and she died in the ICU We had kept her in the hospital for a speedy recovery We never imagined shersquod die for lack of oxygenrdquoRahul VermaldquoI wish I had kept her home quarantined instead of admitting her to the hospitalrdquo said Patel who was taking care of ShahldquoThe government has made a shameful comment and played with the emotions of people who lost loved onesrdquo Patel addedlsquoHospital moved my sisterrsquoA 42yearold mother of two was another Covid19 patient who died while being shifted to the NESCO Jumbo Covid Centre in Goregaon from Phoenix Hospital in Borivli West after the former ran out of oxygenldquoDoctors at Phoenix Hospitals Pvt Limited in Borivli West told me that my sister Rajashree Khanvilkar must be shifted as they are running out of oxygen We were not in favour of shifting her out of the hospital we also consulted our family doctor who suggested we keep her there but the doctors at the hospital kept badgering me with calls to shift her as they had limited oxygen cylinders which were to last only for a few more hoursrdquo Rajesh Karkera Khanvilkarrsquos brother saidRam Verma Ranjanben Shah Rizwan Qadri and Rajashree KhanvilkarldquoIn the wee hours of April 13 we decided to shift her to the NESCO facility where doctors and other hospital staff were patiently waitingrdquo he addedldquoMy sister was taken out of the ICU of Phoenix Hospital like a sack of potatoes while shifting to the ambulance Her oxygen level was around 80 per cent and she too was not willing to go anywhererdquo he recalledldquoBy the time we reached NESCO a team of doctors rushed to our ambulance but she had already breathed her lastrdquo said Karkera While her death certificate mentioned cardiac arrest as the cause of death Karkera said that the pressure of oxygen when administered through a cylinder is less than when it is administered in an ICU The lower pressure of oxygen may have worsened Khanvilkarrsquos condition he suspectsKhanvilkar was to be the principal of a school said Karkera adding ldquoThe doctors at Phoenix hospital clearly told me that they are running out of oxygen but the government is saying that no one died of oxygen shortage in the pandemic I did lose my sisterrdquoApril 12The day seven patients died at Vinayaka Hospital due to alleged lack of oxygen