Dr Furqan episode (1).

Byline: Syed Arif Kazmi - Karachi

DR Furqanul Haq, a Covid-19 patient, died as he was shuttled in the ambulance from hospital to hospital and could not get a bed and ventilator. This is not a time to blame or defend the government.

The need is to come up with standard operating procedures for situations like this in future. It is said that some hospitals refused to admit Dr Furqan because he did not have a certificate of positive Covid-19 test. Others refused on the pretext that a bed/ventilator was not available. Strangely, authorities not only acknowledge but insist that the number of available beds and ventilators far exceeds the number of people who need these facilities at this time.

Some people blamed Dr Furqan, claiming that he avoided admission to the hospital a few days earlier because he did not wish to be stigmatised. That may not be a good reason to avoid hospitalisation but it is widely accepted and often recommended that in the early stages, the patient can stay home and hospitalise only when the symptoms take a serious turn.

So if he refused to be hospitalised, even for a wrong reason, he should have been given the required medical treatment, once needed. The fact...

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