An ordeal faced by a pregnant mother is being heard by the Karnataka HC.
PTI : Image for representation
Imagine breathing a sigh of relief for testing negative for the novel Coronavirus after getting a report issued by a designated private lab and one day later getting calls and SMS stating that you have tested positive. Raghavendra*, a resident of Koramangala in Bengaluru went through this experience as two days after the lab report reached him, he got a call from a person claiming to be a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike official. It was only upon further enquiry that Raghavendra, who did not have any symptoms, was assured by the BBMP officials that he was indeed COVID-19 negative. “Two days after I received the lab report, I got a call saying that I have tested positive for Coronavirus, and I have to be hospitalized. Initially I was taken aback and was wondering if there was any error in the initial report as the person said he was calling from the BBMP,” he said. “I can only imagine if in place of me there was a gullible person who would have got admitted without thinking of verifying with the BBMP once more”, he added. Other than that, I got a call from another number claiming to be an official working in BBMP’s Jayanagar office. He asked, “Why my father, who is 79 and has tested positive for the COVID-19, is not hospitalised’. I was again shocked as even he got his results to be negative. After learning that, I told him that he must be making a mistake but he kept calling me.” Trying to get clarity on the issue, Raghavendra decided to reach out to the jurisdictional Medical Officer, Dr Rehan Shahed. Dr Shahed assured that all of Raghavendra’s family members are negative and said that there must be some error in data management by the lab. When Raghavendra approached the private lab Cancyte, they also denied any responsibility stating there was no error on their part. TNM could not reach the concerned medical officials or the lab for a comment. Up until now, it is not clear who called Raghavendra to “help him and his father get admitted” or how they were informed about him getting a test. Raghavendra told TNM that he has now gotten an SMS claiming that they are indeed negative after Dr Rehan assured that he will fix the issue. However this is not the first such case where patients getting negative test results have been called by the BBMP officials themselves. In fact, the Karnataka High Court is hearing a memo as part of a case where a pregnant woman was forcibly taken by BBMP officials to Victoria Hospital even though lab results clearly confirmed she was negative. Speaking to TNM, GR Mohan, advocate for the woman, said, “Thankfully, the woman delivered the baby and now both mother and child are safe and COVID-19 negative. We were afraid that they would contract the infection due to this unnecessary admission to a COVID-19 hospital.” The BBMP is yet to respond in that case, the advocate said. In another incident, Kiran*, a resident of Vijayanagar in Bengaluru did not get tested but started getting calls that he has tested positive for novel Coronavirus.
Body 2:
from Karnataka https://ift.tt/3kJ0EAv
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment