A 68-year-old diabetic patient that felt uneasy on the early morning of Saturday died on the same day as his family members could not find an empty slot in an ICU ward in the city.

The incident happened in Pune, India.

The district’s collectorate said that there was no shortage of ICU beds in the district and added that families should contact the government and civic hospitals first in such instances.

District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said that there was no shortage of ICU beds in the district.

Collector Ram said:

We have nearly 2,000 ICU beds, of which around 400 have patients. This means we have adequate ICU beds available. Sometimes, private hospitals lie about availablity of ICU beds. So, families of patients in distress should contact government hospitals. In this case, had the patient been brought to Sassoon first, we would have directed him to the appropriate hospital as per his condition and the situation at the hospital.

Tanaji Dudhane, the deceased, died after Anant Dudhane, his brother, and other family members failed to find an empty bed at any ICU ward of private hospitals in the city.

Anant said:

My brother started feeling unwell after midnight… we rushed him to Ruby Hall Clinic at 3 am… but he was denied admission due to the non-availability of a bed in the ICU ward.

They then rushed Tanaji to the Inlaks Budhrani Hospital, where they head the same thing.

Anant added:

We checked with all other major hospitals in the city, like Jehangir, KEM, Deenanath Mangeshkar hospitals, over the phone, but heard the same thing. Finally, at 5.20 am, we admitted my brother to Sasoon Hospital, where he suffered a severe heart attack and died at 6 am. His sugar level at 3 am was around 200 and three hours later, when he suffered a heart attack, it was 400.

Tanaji was brought to the Sassoon Hospital, where no ICU bed was available, however, he was brought to the casualty ward.

Anant said:

By the time they formed a cardiac team, my brother had died. Precious time was lost in getting treatment… timely treatment could have saved my his life.

A spokesperson for the Ruby Hall released a statement about the incident, where they explained what had happened to the victim.

The spokesperson said:

When the patient was brought to us, he was breathless and had fever. His oxygen saturation had dipped to 80 per cent, which is far below the normal oxygen saturation of 94 per cent. The patient had all the Covid symptoms, but we gave him primary treatment. We provided him oxygen support and stablised his condition. But unfortunately, we did not have ICU beds available and hence requested that the patient be taken to other hospital. We even offered our ambulance service.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members of the deceased, may his soul rest in peace.