A shocking incident was reported from Bhagalpur, Bihar, where a woman allegedly struggled against the odds for a month in order to save her husband's life. Her husband died of Covid-19 this month in a Patna private hospital.
The woman claims that while trying to get her Covid-positive husband treated, she was sexually assaulted by hospital workers in Bihar. The heartbreaking video of her narrating the entire incident has gone viral on various social media platforms.
The woman held the hospital responsible for her husband's death due to medical negligence and also accused the hospital of selling medical oxygen supply in black.
The woman said in the video that she and her husband traveled from Noida to Bihar in March to celebrate Holi. Her husband became ill on April 11 and was screened for coronavirus twice, but the findings were negative, she said. She said that a doctor in Noida advised him to get a chest CT, which revealed a lung infection. The man and her mother were taken to Glocal Hospital in Bhagalpur the next day.
The woman accused the hospital of incompetence, claiming that attendants were absent and that they failed to give her medication. She said that when her husband would signal for water when he was struggling but the attendants paid no heed to him. The woman went on to say that she had requested an attendant to assist her during her stay at the hospital. She said she was talking to her husband when she noticed her dupatta being pulled.
"My mother started shouting. I turned around. He [The attendant] was smiling with his hand on my waist. I snatched the dupatta, but couldn't say anything because I was afraid," she said.
She said she was afraid that if she raised an alarm, he would harm her mother or husband. She said the man came back and told her: 'Don't worry. I will take care."
According to the woman, her husband's condition deteriorated, and he was referred to Mayaganj for treatment. Despite her cries, she claims that doctors at the Bhagalpur Government Hospital declined to attend to her husband or give him oxygen.
She also said that when patients were dying, doctors and nurses at Mayaganj would switch off lights in their rooms and watch movies on their phones.
The woman's husband was transferred from Mayaganj to Patna's Rajeshwar Hospital. She mentioned that she attempted to transport him to Delhi via air ambulance but was unable to do so due to his deteriorating condition.
The woman said that the situation was the same here. She alleged that the hospital staff was inattentive. She said that the hospital workers cut off her husband's oxygen supply, forcing her to buy cylinders on the black market. She claims that the hospital sold oxygen cylinders for Rs 50,000 each.
The woman said she didn't lose her husband to coronavirus, but to medical incompetence and the risk of wasting oxygen, and she urged people to look after their loved ones rather than trust hospitals.
Bihar was one of the states that were worst hit during the second wave of Covid-19. On Monday, 75 Covid-19 deaths were announced in Bihar, bringing the overall death toll to 3357 and bringing the total number of recorded cases to over six lakhs.
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