Family members of one of the latest Covid-19 fatalities recorded in the State have alleged that they were made to run from pillar to post and wait an extraordinary amount of time before their relative, Uginia Rymbai, was admitted to hospital.
The patient, sadly, lost her battle with the disease and succumbed only a few hours after being admitted.
The 52-year-old tested positive for the coronavirus at the Bethany Hospital in Nongpoh. She was then referred to Nongpoh Civil Hospital but the latter then recommended she be taken to Shillong Civil Hospital because “her condition and blood sugar had deteriorated and there are no ICU facilities at Nongpoh Civil Hospital”, the victim’s son, Marshall Rymbai, told Highland Post today.
It took half a dozen calls to the 108 emergency service before getting an ambulance to transport the patient to Shillong.
“We left Nongpoh around 1:30am yesterday in a 108 but, on reaching Shillong Civil Hospital, there was no one to attend to our very sick mother, who had to remain in the ambulance for hours,” Rymbai lamented.
A sleeping security guard was woken, after great difficulty, only for him not to have the key to the main entrance, which was locked. Finally, nurses inside were roused and the gate was opened.
“The nurses then took another hour to wear their PPE and find a wheelchair before they attended to our suffering mother, who had to stay in the ambulance right from 2:30 am to 4 am,” Rymbai, who filmed some of this tragedy, added.
The agony, however, did not end there.
By 9:45 am the 52-year-old patient was declared dead. After first being told that municipal authorities would help the family move the body, they were then informed that they would have to do it themselves and arrange their own ambulance and PPE.
After burying their mother in Nongpoh that night, the family home was then declared a containment zone by the Health Department.
“Where is the preparedness of the Health Department, where are the 24×7 standby staff in the hospital, where are the municipal staff?” he questioned.
