Lucknow: A Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Sunil Singh Sajan alleged that the Uttar Pradesh minister Chetan Chauhan, who succumbed to COVID-19 in a Gurugram Hospital did not die of the disease, but due to the carelessness in his treatment at the state-run Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) hospital.
In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, Sunil Singh talked about how Chetan Chauhan lost his life to COVID due to the carelessness of SGPGI Hospital. He accused that Chauhan died due to Yogi govt's mishandling of the pandemic crisis.
Chauhan (73), who was admitted to SGPGI after he tested positive for COVID-19. Sunil Singh said that he also tested positive for the coronavirus and was also admitted to SGPGI. The SP leader also claimed that Chauhan and he were admitted to the same ward of the hospital.
However, Chetan Chauhan was shifted to the Medanta hospital in Haryana's Gurugram when his condition deteriorated. The cricketer-turned-politician died last week due to COVID-related complications, after being put on life support for nearly 36 hours.
Chronology of the event:
"Once during a round, a doctor and a nurse asked who is Chetan, to which the minister raised his hand since he was a simple person. He was asked as to when he got infected with the virus, to which he explained the entire matter to the hospital staff. At that time, another personnel asked Chauhan what do you do, to which he said he is a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government," Sajan said.
He added that he was angered by the behaviour of the hospital staff with Chauhan.
"When I could not control my anger, I told the doctor that Chauhan had played cricket for India, to which the doctor said ''Oh! He is that Chetan''. After this, the doctor and the other staff left," the SP leader said.
"During treatment, I had spoken to Chauhan a number of times, but he never brought up the incident. And he went to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram citing family reasons. If there were any complaints, it should have been conveyed. The incident will be probed," he said.
Narrating his ordeal and the negligence of the hospital authorities, Sajan said, "I underwent COVID-19 test at least five teams due to the laxity of the hospital management. The authorities cited some or the other reason for covering up their mismanagement. The kind of ruthless behaviour of the hospital staff prompted me to think about the difficulties a common man in the state has to go through during treatment."
Targeting the Yogi Adityanath Government over the poor handling of the crisis, the SP leader said, "It's better to isolate oneself after testing positive for the deadly virus. If an MLA has to go through so much, what would be the plight of the common man?".
SP MLC Sunil Singh Sajan raised the issue in the Upper House of the Uttar Pradesh Legislature on Friday that Chauhan received poor treatment at the SGPGI. The footage of Sajan's speech in the Legislative Council went viral on social media platforms, causing resentment among the saffron party leaders.
The BJP govt in the state has been facing constant criticism from the opposition parties over the deteriorating law and order, increase in crime graph COVID-19 cases.
With PTI inputs
