Turned away by pvt hosps, patient dies

“He was supplied oxygen since Sunday night and doctors managed to increase his oxygen intake but on Tuesday night, he suffered a setback and had to be put on ventilator,” said a close family member, who felt that if the patient had been provided treatment immediately, chances of survival could have been better.

Meanwhile, the State government’s hospital availability dashboard on Wednesday lists a total of 264 hospitals approved for treating COVID-19 patients in Chennai alone, most of which also show availability of vacant beds.

Until Wednesday evening, most of the hospitals listed in the dashboard had vacant beds, beds with Oxygen support, ICU beds and ventilators.

The public could check the availability of the same at https://covid.uhcitp.in/status/dashboard and approach the hospitals. If denied admission, they could complain at toll-free number ‘104’ or the state government’s COVID Helpline 18004250111.