Covid positive baby girl dies waiting for hospital bed in Vizag

A one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl lost her life to Covid, in front of her wailing parents who were beseeching doctors to save her. The girl's parents had to wait outside the hospital for 90 minutes, allegedly on account of the non-availability of beds.

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh): Heart-rending scenes were witnessed in the port city's iconic King George Hospital (KGH) on Tuesday as a one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl lost her life to Covid, in front of her wailing parents who were beseeching doctors to save her.

According to relatives of the family which belongs to Atchutapuram Mandal in the district, Veerababu took his child Jahnvika to a private hospital after she developed a cold. On treating her for three days, the doctors there suspected Covid and advised the parents to get their child to undergo an RT-PCR test. When the child tested positive, the parents were told to take her to the government-run KGH.

Friends of the family claimed that the child and her parents had to wait outside the hospital for 90 minutes, allegedly on account of the non-availability of beds. Although the baby girl was administered oxygen in the ambulance, she succumbed after a 90-minute struggle.

The child's parents alleged that their child would have survived, had the hospital authorities responded promptly to the emergency.

However, KGH sources said that the child was already in critical condition at the time of arrival. Kin of the child's family got into an argument with hospital staff, leading to some tense moments.

(With IANS inputs)