Amidst numerous reports about the growing public anger because of lack of medical facilities such as beds and oxygen supply in both public and private hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and the state government’s continuous denial of these reports, an appalling incident has come to light.
On the last day of April 2021, when a group of people was not able to find any hospital bed for an elderly woman with health complications, as a last resort they took the patient outside the residence of Umesh Malik, the representative of their area in the legislative assembly and a member of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP).
The incident happened in a village named Soram in the Budhana block of Muzaffarnagar district in the western part of Uttar Pradesh.
Malik was alarmed only after five to six other patients also reached his residence after failing to get the required medical assistance. He initially tried to persuade them to leave from that place on the first floor of his house but to no avail. Ultimately he had to make an appearance and help the patients and their attendants waiting outside his residence.
The elderly woman whose health had deteriorated further was sent to the COVID-19 facility ward in the Muzzafarnagar Medical College and two other patients were admitted to the COVID isolation ward of the district hospital.
Patients and doctors throughout the state have been highlighting the acute burden that the already fragile healthcare system there has been facing. Many netizens in the state took to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to raise SOS and ask for help in finding out leads for hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, medicines, and ventilators.
Meanwhile, the chief minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath responded by calling the alarms raised by the people in his state ‘rumors’ and asking the officials to register cases under the National Security Act (NSA) and Gangsters Act against those who spread such propaganda, the Hindu reported.
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