Woman dies after being pushed out of bus on suspicion of being Covid-infected

Naveen S Garewal

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, July 15

Gripped by panic, passengers pushed out a woman from a bus after she died of a chronic throat tumour, thinking her to be a COVID-19 victim.

The incident took place in the Dharur Mandal of Vikarabad district in Telangana, where the body lay on the road with none willing to help the family of the deceased.

The 40-year-old wife of G Chinna Ashappa of Kistapur village of Yalal Mandal was suffering from a throat tumour. They visited the cancer hospital at Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, for treatment. After undergoing tests, the hospital authorities asked the family to arrange Rs 2 lakh for surgery. Since the amount was too huge for the family, they set out for home to arrange the money.

They boarded an RTC bus. However, en route she developed breathing problems and collapsed in the bus.

After boarding the bus her pain aggravated on the way and after struggling with severe pain. Suspecting her to be COVID-infected, fellow passengers and staff dragged her out of the bus and dumped on the road. Minutes later she breathed her last on the road.

Ashappa then called his son-in-law and sarpanch of Keshtapur and informed them about the incident. Finally, an auto driver agreed to shift the body to their native village. Before cremation, a COVID test was done on the body which was found to be negative.

This is the second incident of this nature within a month. Earlier, a 52-year-old asthma victim died when people kept away thinking he was corona-infected. The man begged people around him to shift him to hospital, but he had died before medical personnel in Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits could arrive on the spot.

There is a fresh wave of fear in the Telugu states where the cases have a spurt in the past few days. Andhra Pradesh reported 2,412 fresh cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total cases in the state to 35,451, while 44 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on COVID-19 preventive measures last evening and has issued instruction saying action will be initiated against hospitals who deny treatment to COVID-19 patients. He has announced a financial aid of Rs 15,000 for the last rites of COVID-19 deceased.

At the same time, Telangana has tied up with few private medical colleges that have offered free COVID-19 treatment to both confirmed and suspected patients. “This initiative has been taken to ensure there is no shortage of beds in any zone of the GHMC,” said Governor of Telangana Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday.

Under this initiative, three private medical colleges — Mamataha, Malla Reddy and Kamineni institute — have been enlisted by the Public Health Sector officials.

Congress shuts party office

With the growing number of politicians testing positive and some even dying of COVID related complications, the Congress has shut down its party office in Hyderabad. Gandhi Bhavan will remain closed for a week. TPCC secretary G. Narendra Yadav died of Covid-19 at a hospital, here on Monday, becoming the second Congress leader to succumb to Covid-19 this month. He had attended party meetings at the Gandhi Bhavan in recent days. Earlier, former chairman of the Congress minority cell in undivided Andhra Pradesh, Mohammed Sirajuddin, died at a hospital, here on July 6.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has started sanitisation of the building, located at Nampally in the heart of the city. The Covid-19 control room had been set up by TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy to help the coronavirus infected in Hyderabad.