Delhi's woes continue: Scramble for beds and oxygen, deaths on streets

The same tale is repeating in the national capital -- a scramble for hospital beds and oxygen that lead to nowhere, innumerable lives lost.

Grocery shop owner M B Prakash and his sister-in-law drove for five hours across the national capital looking for an admission for his Covid-19 positive 75-year-old father, who was struggling to breathe.

But despite driving into four hospitals in five hours, Prakash could not save his father, who left his home in Kerala to stay with his son in the national capital 15 years ago.

Balan stays with his son and other family members in north-east Delhi's Dilshad Garden and his condition deteriorated on Monday night. By Tuesday 4 am, Balan had passed away lying in an ambulance in Dayanand Hospital where a doctor finally examined him.

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The family had been trying to fill an oxygen cylinder for almost 18 hours by then but luck was not on their side.

Balan passed away in the ambulance

Prakash desperately called for ambulance services but none were available. He said he tried every number he got on WhatsApp but none responded. "There are a lot of numbers that are circulating. None of them came to my help. Finally a local politician arranged an ambulance," he said.

Once they managed an ambulance around 11 pm on Monday, they first drove to ESIC Hospital in Karkardooma where they were told that beds are not available. The next stops were Yamuna Sports Complex, where a Covid-19 care facility has been established, and Guru Tegh Bahadur hospital.

"In GTB hospital, the gates were closed. We could not even enter. Then we went to Dayanand hospital where a doctor came to the ambulance and checked my father. The oxygen level by then had dipped dangerously low. The doctor told me that he was helpless," Prakash told DH. Soon, Balan breathed his last.

Prakash's ordeal did not end there. There was no one to help him shift the body to another ambulance, which he hired to take the body to the crematorium.

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"The ambulance drivers there did not have PPE kit. I sought help but none helped. My sister-in-law helped me in shifting the body. Then it was an agonising wait at the crematorium in Seemapuri," he said.

Prakash said the scenes at the crematorium were heart wrenching, as bodies were piling up and that he could see body parts which were not fully burnt.

"It was an overwhelming scene. Every minute, there was a new body. The crematorium staff were hard-pressed. I had to help in arranging the funeral pyre," he added.