‘Corona didn’t kill my mother, the system’s negligence did’

Sumitra Deb Roy@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:17.04.2020

A 55-year-old woman died on Monday after suffering a heart attack at the quarantine centre in Dharavi where, her family alleged, she missed her blood pressure and hypertension medicines for two days. With no ambulance available, Afsari Bano was being rushed to Sion hospital in a taxi when she died.

“Coronavirus didn’t kill my mother, the system’s negligence did,” said Bano’s son Farooqui Sohrab (25), a student of hotel management.

Bano had been a patient of hypertension, blood pressure and hypothyroidism for over a decade and depended heavily on 8-10 pills daily. On Saturday, around 2am, when civic officials hustled the family to the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex, they could not even carry her medicines or a change of clothes.

“We were told the tests would hardly take 10 minutes and we would be back home soon,” said Sohrab. “After we reached the centre, the volunteers told us we have to stay till we are tested.” A neighbour from Murugan Chawl in Dharavi had tested positive.

“The first thing I asked the centre in-charge and the doctor was to arrange for my mother’s medication. I had instinctively picked up her medical file. They promised but the chemist nearby didn’t have them. The drugs couldn’t be arranged the next day too as it was a Sunday,” said Sohrab. “Finally, I called a friend on Monday and handed him the keys to our house. He picked up our clothes and her medicines,” he said.

Bano started feeling unwell that evening. Sohrab said his mother, who could barely walk, found it difficult to use the washroom 50-60m away. “She collapsed after coming out of the bathroom around 12.30am and a fluid started oozing out of her nose. There was a doctor but she couldn’t do much,” said Sohrab.

He complained that besides the unhygienic condition of the centre that had only one washroom each for men and women, the food served was inappropriate for the elderly. “My mother, a diabetic, was served rice for all meals,” said Sohrab.

Picture of a dirty toilet at the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex quarantine centre shared by a man who stayed there