The Man Who Shouldn't Have Died

Brut India

Ajay Kumar's last hours were spent rushing from hospital to hospital, looking for a bed. His daughter Saumya narrates the harrowing tale...

Transcript

00:00If they had just got oxygen, maybe there was a chance.

00:23My father started having breathing issues suddenly after two to three days.

00:30He started having breathing issues.

00:40They put an oximeter there and checked.

00:42His oxygen level was 75, 71 or 75.

00:45But they did not test him because they said,

00:48no, you don't have COVID, you don't have any symptoms.

00:52And we were like shocked, how can they do this?

00:55They went to at least four to five private hospitals in one night.

01:04Sometimes by battery rickshaw, sometimes by walking.

01:08Ambulance who just took them.

01:11At a distance of two minutes, charge 8000 from them.

01:15Finally, I found somebody whose father's friend was a doctor at NMCH,

01:20which is Nalanda Medical College and Hospital.

01:22I found a bed there too, but it was like I didn't get oxygen.

01:26Then on the 11th, the test was done.

01:28And it said, it says COVID negative.

01:31So that's what happened.

01:32Even if your patient is critical and his oxygen is dropping,

01:35they did not give him oxygen.

01:37At the level he was at, he was in need of a ventilator.

01:40When the negative came, they said,

01:42we are making discharge papers and you guys can take him away

01:45to a private hospital and get him treated for whatever the disease is.

01:48Maybe it's pneumonia or something like that.

01:50Because he's not COVID positive.

02:08After that, when we were told to go to IGI MS,

02:11which is a semi-government hospital, it's Indira Gandhi Hospital.

02:15IGI declined to accept the report that NMCH had provided.

02:20And they said that we'll take another test.

02:22The next day, the report was supposed to come,

02:24but my father couldn't make it through another morning.

02:26Like 14th July, early morning, he passed away.

02:29And then his reports came, which were positive.

02:32And it was in just five days that our world took a turn.

02:40How can you say, no, he's not positive, take him anywhere else?

02:46But he's having all the symptoms.

02:48Even if a report is negative, if he's having breathlessness,

02:51that is dangerous, right?

02:53My father was a taxpaying citizen of that state.

02:56I want to understand what else does it take for a person

02:59to be a responsible citizen.

03:01Not every person can join the army to show their patriotism.

03:10For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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