Hyderabad: India’s first death from coronavirus or Covid-19, could have been averted had the relatives of the deceased Muhammad Husain Siddiqui (76) taken enough care and taken him to the designated government run Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on 11 March. Instead, they took him back home to Kalaburgi in Karnataka, after he was sent out by a private corporate hospital in Hyderabad the same day.
This is the essence of a preliminary report filed by the medical and health department of Telangana government, which investigated the country’s first death of Covid-19, amidst growing concerns over its spread across the state. The report has been shared with the Union Ministry of Health, which is monitoring the situation across the country.
The victim, Husain, an old man, returned from Saudi Arabia after a pilgrimage, to Hyderabad’s Shamshabad International Airport on 29 February. Though he was screened as “suspect” at the airport, Husain ignored the paramedical staff’s suggestion to go to Gandhi Hospital, Secunderabad, and instead went to his hometown Kalaburgi, 85 km from here, on the same night.
After this, as many as three to four days were wasted in his village even though he complained of fever and giddiness. His son and daughter took him to a local doctor who referred him to a private hospital in Hyderabad, which is the big city nearby. However, the hospital which noticed his symptoms sent him to a corporate hospital, Care Hospital in Hyderabad on the evening of 6 March.
After monitoring his condition for two days, the corporate hospital’s doctors advised the patient’s relatives to take him to Gandhi Hospital in the city. The relatives first went to Gandhi Hospital and told the doctors about Husain’s condition and sought some medicines to be prescribed. When the doctors there insisted that the patient be admitted, the relatives went back.
On 10 March, Husain’s relatives took him back home to Kalaburgi assuming that the fever would subside gradually. However, the patient died on the way. The death came to the light only after a few hours of his passing away and the news triggered a blame game between the governments of Karnataka and Telangana.
The Union Health Ministry, too, sought a report on Husain’s death. Speaking to journalists in Hyderabad on 14 March, Saturday, Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender admitted that had the relatives of the deceased taken him to Gandhi Hospital on time, his chances of survival would have been brighter. Now, all of Husain’s relatives are under quarantine.
After the death, the Telangana government swung into action and intensified measures to tackle the growing menace of Covid-19. So far, 55,000 persons have been screened at the international airport and over 100 were kept in isolation wards at Gandhi Hospital and at a tourism resort turned isolation ward of the virus suspects at Vikarabad, 60 km from here.
As many as 34 suspected cases have been reported in the state while one of them was reported as virus positive. Making a statement in the Assembly on Saturday, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said that his government would not allow complacency in the administration towards the pandemic. “We will take all steps to bring the situation under control,” he told the Assembly.
On Saturday, the KCR government decided to shut down all schools, colleges, cinema halls, shopping malls, and other places of public gathering till 31 March. The ongoing budget session of Assembly has been cut short by a week and will be on until 16 March, Monday. Chief Minister KCR announced these measures after a high level meeting on Saturday evening. The government also cancelled Sri Rama Navami celebrations at major Ram temples in Telangana. Governor Tamilisai has cancelled all her engagements and appointments at Raj Bhavan for around a fortnight.