Unable to get ambulance, Covid positive man walks 4 km with family to Karnataka CM’s house

Shankar, who works at a medical college in Bengaluru, says he was made to wait for 3 hours for an ambulance to take him to the nearest government hospital.

A screen grab of the Bengaluru man and his family in front of the chief minister's house | By special arrangement

Bengaluru: A bus driver in Bengaluru, who has tested positive for Covid-19, decided to walk 4 km to Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s official residence, along with his wife and minor children, after failing to find an ambulance to take him to the hospital.

The incident took place Thursday after Shankar, who works at a city medical college, got his test results for Covid-19. He had undergone a test Monday at a local government facility after developing fever.

“Failing to find an ambulance to take me to the hospital, I took my wife and children in an autorickshaw to the Basavanagudi police station for help. My five-year-old son has also been running a fever. But they asked me to go away and get admitted to a hospital. It was then that I took another auto from the police station to the chief minister’s house.

“After some distance, however, the driver of the second autorickshaw asked us to get down. We walked the rest of the distance, about 4 km, to the chief minister’s house on foot because we had no other option,” Shankar told the local media Thursday evening.

Speaking to ThePrint, an official at the chief minister’s office (CMO), who did not want to be named, said, “He (Shankar) received a call from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike officials that he has tested positive for the virus. He then called the state helpline number to be shifted to a government hospital but was made to wait for three hours at his house. Running a high fever, the man decided to go to the nearest police station for help instead.”

The guards stationed outside the chief minister’s residence alerted the CMO officials who later arranged for an ambulance to take Shankar to the K.C. General Hospital in the city.

‘Live in 12*12 feet room with family, no way to isolate myself’

A resident of Banashankari in Bengaluru, Shankar had told officials at the CMO that he lives in a 12×12 feet room along with his wife, son and a 10-month-old daughter. With no relatives in the city, he claimed, there was no way he could have isolated himself.

The official quoted above said, “Somebody had misguided him. They said he should go to the chief minister’s residence and he will get help. That is why he landed at Krishna (the name of the chief minister’s official residence).”

“He is under treatment and responding well,” the official added.