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Ahmedabad doctor says he was called ‘fattu’ and denied Covid test, hospital refutes charges

Dr Satish Kumar Sharma says he was denied a Covid-19 test by doctors in Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, despite showing symptoms of the virus.

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Vadodara: A 29-year-old medical oncologist working at the Gujarat Cancer Research Institute has alleged that he was denied a Covid-19 test by doctors in Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, despite showing symptoms of the virus.

Dr Satish Kumar Sharma, a first-year resident at the institute, told ThePrint he developed a fever and fatigue 5-6 days ago which later subsided. He felt he needed to get tested after he developed a sore throat approximately 2 days ago.

“I informed my superiors, and all of them recommended I get tested. But when I went to the facility and registered, I was turned away by the medical officers there. They called me a ‘fattu’ (wimp) for coming and said I didn’t need to be tested,” Sharma told ThePrint.

Sharma said he had been exposed to positive Covid-19 patients while working, and says he likely contracted the illness through them. He decided to go to the 1,200-bed facility set up by the Civil Hospital on 1 May when he was turned away. Blank OPD documents show that he went to the facility at 6.44pm.

“It is mandatory to test those who are showing symptoms and you can’t turn someone away like that. I am a doctor on top of it,” Sharma said.

The medical superintendent of Civil Hospital, Dr J.V. Modi said Sharma was not denied the test.

“His swab was taken. We told him that it was unnecessary, since he was asymptomatic, but ultimately we did the test,” he told ThePrint.

Complaints of ‘neglect’

Sharma’s complaint of improper treatment is not the first from Ahmedabad’s medical fraternity. Last week, a video of a doctor who was quarantined in the city’s SVP Hospital did the rounds in which she claimed she was forced to work despite being unwell.

Earlier this month, several health workers from the city’s LG hospital had contracted the virus allegedly because patients of surgery had not been tested.

Ahmedabad, a red zone, has reported 3,021 of Gujarat’s over 4,000 positive Covid cases.


Also read: Infections soar, high death rate, slow recoveries – Covid deals a deadly blow to Gujarat


 

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