18-yr-old diabetic COVID patient dies after 3 hospitals refused him admission: parents

The parents of an 18-year-old man, who was diabetic and tested positive for COVID-19 before his death in a government hospital in Kolkata, on Saturday alleged that he succumbed because of negligence as he was refused a bed by three medical facilities.

Even at the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital (KMCH) where Subhrajit Chattopadhyay died on late Friday night, admitted him only after his mother threatened to commit suicide if he was not treated there, the class 12 students father claimed.

When contacted, Director of Health Services Ajoy Chakraborty said that the matter would be definitely looked into.

"He was a juvenile diabetes patient and had complained of breathlessness on Friday morning. We took him to the ESI Hospital at Kamarhati where they told they did not have any bed in the ICU.

"Then we took him to a private nursing home. They conducted Covid-19 test on him and after the result came out positive, they said there is no bed. And during this entire episode, we were made to wait in the ambulance," the father of the deceased said.

Subhrajit's mother said that government-run Sagar Dutta Hospital also denied him admission following which they informed the police who advised them to take him to the KMCH.

"Even after knowing that my son was a COVID-19 patient, the KMCH initially did not want to admit him. After my wife threatened to commit suicide if they did not treat him, they relented," Subhrajit's father said.

"My son was not given any medicine at the KMCH. He was taken to some ward where we had no access. We kept on enquiring about his health but nobody helped us in any manner.

When we went to the enquiry section, we came to know that our son had died at around 9.30 pm," he said.

This has happened because of negligence on the part of all these hospitals, he alleged.

"Had they admitted him and treated him on time, I think our son would have survived. At the KMCH, he did not get any treatment," he claimed.