The coronavirus pandemic has rather exposed a broken system and pinpointed flaws that no government around the world would have thought will ever be the case. In a recent post on Twitter, a case about the real-life experience of a COVID-19 patient has exposed the existing loopholes in our system and how people are not ready to take accountability.
Ankit Bhardwaj tweeted that his brother-in-law was tested positive for coronavirus and the way the case was handled was indeed shocking.
He said that his brother-in-law came in contact with his colleague at Punjab National Bank who was tested positive in Gurugram. The patient called all Govt helplines, Aarogya Setu helplines, and updated his record on other Govt apps but there was no communication from any Govt department for the next two days. He then decided to go to a private hospital for testing.
The coronavirus test charges were Rs 4,900 and it left him thinking that how will a person with limited means afford this test. The test results came out positive. The update was sent on the Aarogya Setu app. There was still no response from any Govt Department. He made over 50 calls to all helpline numbers and was finally answered.
A Govt ambulance came home and took the patient to an isolation ward in Gurugram in Sector 9 and promised that a team will come to test other family members. But there was no response on that too. The patient stated that the condition of the isolation ward was 'disgusting and unhygienic'. There was no doctor visiting the ward and it had been two days. The family, which is still waiting for someone to come and test them, has finally decided to get tested at a private hospital.
On seeing the tweet, the DC from Gurugram sent a response asking Ankit to share his contact details with the Govt in a private message so that teams could reach out to them and help the family resolve the issue as well.
The response from Twitter users was immense. There were people questioning the Govt about its response towards handling such a situation.
The Govt, on one hand, is announcing that testing facilities are being increased and cheaper testing kits have been roped in but despite repeated calls to the Govt there was no response in this case. The private hospitals are charging huge amounts for doing COVID-19 tests.
