A 46-year-old cancer patient reportedly passed away after numerous hospitals in Delhi declined to admit him to the hospital for treatment. The incident happened on March 30.
The deceased was identified as Puneet Sharma from Kashipur, Uttarakhand state. Puneet along with his wife Sapna and four children came to Delhi for treatment of his advanced tongue cancer. They went to nine hospitals but they were denied admission. His cancer had metastasized and spread to other organs.
According to the sources, the family members of Puneet expressed that Puneet was admitted to the DSCI (Delhi State Cancer Institute) on March 16. The DSCI, On March 28, referred him to other hospitals either AIIMS or GB Pant Hospital mentioning the lack of intensive care facilities at its institute. On March 29, the family went to AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences), where they reportedly refused to admit him without any preliminary medical examination.
Sapna, wife of Puneet allegedly said that despite pleading with doctors at AIIMS the family was told at the hospital about the unavailability of enough beds and ventilators and they were instructed to to go to Safdarjung Hospital. However, the Safdarjung Hospital was also denied admission. From Safdarjung, they went to GB Pant Hospital, where they again refused to admit him. Despite local police intervention, the hospital refused to admit Sharma, referring to a lack of beds and ventilators.
Sapna for nearly nine hours scooted from one department to another pleading for help for her ill husband. Finally, Sharma was taken back to the DSCI on March 30, where he died at around 5 pm.
Sapna allegedly said that her husband passed away as an institutional death in Delhi due to the negligence of the government.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina)
