Uttar Pradesh: In a video, 69 COVID-19 patients seen waiting on footpath outside hospital 

An incident in Uttar Pradesh has revealed a serious flaw in the state administration amidst the coronavirus pandemic when more than 65 COVID-19 patients under-treatment were left waiting on the footpath during their transferring process from one hospital to another on Thursday morning, reported NDTV.

The patients were sent from the western UP city of Agra, 116 km away, to the government hospital in Saifai, Etawah district but when a bus with 69 corona patients reached outside the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences in Saifai, they were left unattended. After one hour of waiting, the hospital admitted them to the ward for COVID-19 patients.

A video was recorded from the field showing how the patients were made to sit on the footpath around the hospital gates while covering their faces with masks. Men in protective layers are policemen seen in the videos giving them instruction to maintain the distance and for not roaming around the area where they were kept.

The local police officer Chandra Pal Singh in Saifai in a mobile video can be heard addressing the patients saying, "Stay here. I am sure a medical team will be here soon and will make a list and take you in. What has happened has happened. If you run around, then everyone will get it. Do not try and roam around here. There was no information, else lists would have been made. There was no information, you have arrived all of a sudden."

When contacted by the NDTV, the vice-chancellor of the university also in-charge of the hospital admitted that there was a lack of communication but insisted that the doctors or paramedical staff at the Saifai hospital were not to be blamed.

The NDTV quoted Dr Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of the Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences as saying, "I cannot say who was negligent but the patients had to reach a day earlier (Wednesday ) and when patients are transferred in such large numbers, the procedure is that a responsible officer or doctor comes with a list, with names and clinical status of the patients. We then take the patients inside. But there were communication gaps.”

He added, “Our team was alert. Because of this, they did not reach on the scheduled day but the next day. I found out that our team did not have information. But our team took them in despite them not having any documents. It took 30 minutes to an hour. I am not sure they roamed around anywhere, but if you are saying it, they may have roamed around. I have not managed to verify this."