Maharashtra: Journalist died due to lack of care at govt COVID centre, alleges family

Journalist Pandurang Raykar, who tested COVID-19 positive, died due to lack of care at a government COVID centre here, his family members alleged.

"There's chaos, doctors aren't trained. They made centres worth crores but couldn't arrange cardiac ambulance to shift him. That's why he died," said Akshara Shendage, sister of the deceased journalist.

Ashwini Satav Doke, a colleague of the deceased said, "He was taken to COVID centre in Hinjewadi but his oxygen level was 77, and there was no high-pressure oxygen available at Hinjewadi. So he was given an injection. Then we started looking for a bed and in the night a bed was made available here at Jumbo COVID Centre. But he required oxygen."

"Yesterday, his oxygen level was 85, but we decided to take him to a private hospital. A bed was also available at the private hospital and it was just seven minutes distance away. But we did not get the cardiac ambulance," Ashwini Satav said.

"We arranged for an ambulance but they came with faulty ventilator and another without doctor. This all happened until 2 am today. So we decided to shift him in the morning as the doctor here was saying that we cannot shift the patient in a critical condition," she said.

"In the morning, around 4 am we were informed that his oxygen level was between 50 and 55. We arranged for another ambulance and we were told that it will be available at 6:30 am but in the meantime, we reached here, we got to know that Pandurang has died," she said.

"From 8 pm yesterday we were arranging for the cardiac ambulance, and it was only available to us in the morning after 4 am today," she added.

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