A heart-wrenching video message by a dying, young coronavirus patient saying goodbye to his father has gone viral over social media, where he is complaining of negligence by a state-run hospital in Hyderabad, he was admitted to, after refusal by several other private hospitals, has left the people of city and neitizens in shock and pain.

“Though I told them that I can’t breathe, they removed the ventilator. I am fed up. It’s been three hours, daddy. It’s like my heart has stopped beating. Bye daddy bye. Bye everyone,” the 34-year-old man can be seen saying, in the video.

Advertisement

P Ravi Kumar died soon he recorded this selfie video on June 26 at the hospital where he was admitted on June 24, according to the family,

Ravi’s father P Venkateshwarlu said they shared the video so that the world knows what’s happening in hospitals. “No other family should go through this ordeal,” he added.

The hospital authorities, however, denied that there was any negligence. They said he died of cardiac complications. According to them, he was given medicines and put on supplementary oxygen but he developed heart related complications.

Hospital Superintendent Dr Mahboob Khan clarified that the patient was not put on a ventilator and hence was incorrect to say that it was removed. According to him, Ravi Kumar was suffering from a condition called myocarditis.

“This heart related complication is being observed in some younger patients infected by Coronavirus. Such patients die due to lack of oxygen supply to the heart,” news agency IANS quoted khan as saying.

The deceased is survived by his wife, a 12-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.

Ravi Kumar  worked in Saudi Arabia for 10 years and had returned home two years ago. He had been living with his parents.

Venkateshwarlu said his son started complaining of breathlessness on June 23. He took him from one hospital to another but no one admitted him. “We went to 11 hospitals but they refused to admit without a Coronavirus test,” he recalled.

The next day he took Ravi to a private lab and  was tested for COVID-19 but the result of the test was awaited. The same night his condition started worsening and his father took him to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) but authorities there told him to go to Chest Hospital. He was finally admitted to that hospital.

Venkateshwarlu was staying in the hospital premises. He said his son sent him a selfie video late on the night of June 26. He watched this around 2.30 a.m. and went inside the ward but by then his son had breathed his last.

The next day hospital authorities handed over the body to the family and they performed the last rites. The report, which came later in the day, showed him to be COVID-19 positive.

The authorities have quarantined his family members and are tracing 30 people who attended the funeral.

(With IANS inputs)