On May 23, Kabir Khatri’s sons spent half the day making frantic calls to Covid-19 hospitals across Mumbai, desperately seeking a bed for t...
On May 23, Kabir Khatri’s sons spent half the day making frantic calls to Covid-19 hospitals across Mumbai, desperately seeking a bed for their father.
A 69-year-old diabetic, Khatri (name changed to protect privacy) had unexpectedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus the week before, when the private hospital where he was scheduled for a gall bladder surgery demanded a Covid-19 report. Since Khatri was asymptomatic, he was quarantined at home in South Mumbai, where his family monitored his oxygen levels several times a day.
“On Saturday afternoon [on May 23], his oxygen level suddenly fell to 50%, so we knew he needed a hospital,” said Khatri’s younger son, Jameel (name changed), a software engineer.
But a hospital bed was nowhere to be found.
The Khatris registered with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Covid-19 helpline number, only to be told that there were no beds available at Covid hospitals on an urgent basis. They received the same response from almost a dozen other hospitals they called. Finally, late in the evening, a private hospital in Chembur promised them a bed by 9.30 pm.
But now there was a new challenge: getting an ambulance.
“We tried the 108 ambulance helpline, but no one answered. We tried other ambulance services, but no one was available,”...
