When the persistent downpour in Chennai due to cyclonic storm Michaung continued for nearly two days causing a flood, hundreds of residents were caught in a tight spot due to uncertainties over their impending and scheduled medical treatment. With the city reeling under water, some of them, like dialysis patients, had no other option except to somehow reach a hospital. TNM spoke to some of the caretakers of elderly persons, who struggled to reach a medical facility.
Radhika who lives in Sholinganallur had to take her 70-year-old father for an angiogram on Monday, December 4. "But since the cyclone warning came, we discussed it with the doctor and decided to postpone it. On December 4, there was no water logging and we thought we could do the procedure on December 5. But the Buckingam canal breached and flooded our road,” she said. Soon after that, water entered their building.
“The doctor told us that we need to reach the hospital on December 6 to do the procedure. But by December 5 evening, water entered our building. Things became scary. In addition, our medicine stock also ran out. We were able to procure medicines as some neighbours had ventured out,” she said. Radhika was finally able to take her father to the hospital on December 6, thanks to a neighbour and a taxi driver. With no sign of water level receding, a neighbour who had a large vehicle ferried them till the main road, from where they got a taxi.
The situation was much more complicated for Rucha Kasliwal, a resident of Embassy residency in Perumbakkam of Chennai, as the hospital in which her 76-year-old father-in-law undergoes dialysis was shut down. “Usually, his treatment is at Global hospital located near us. But now we had to travel nearly 26 kms to reach MGM hospital, where he is currently undergoing dialysis," she said. Global hospital had to shut down its operations on December 4 after water entered its premises and buildings. Rucha's family of six persons, including her husband and kids, were able to get an auto and travel to MGM hospital.
“He has to undergo two dialysis per week. For this week, it was scheduled on Monday but we were not able to go out. When we tried on Tuesday, the hospital was not functioning due to the rain and flood. Finally, my company helped me to find another Hospital (MGM) and he underwent dialysis”, she said. They also had no water, milk, food, electricity and faced network issues, like many others. “The major issue was that we couldn't contact anyone for help, due to network issues,” she said.
The situation was similar for Vaibhav, also a resident of the Embassy Residency, who had to take care of his 73-year-old father, a dialysis patient. Vaibhav had moved to this particular apartment complex because it was closer to the Global hospital, where he took his father for his weekly dialysis sessions.
“The sudden change in the climatic conditions, coupled with the power outage made it difficult for my father to sleep, which in turn increased his blood pressure and sugar levels. We were not able to take him to the hospital as they didn’t have the facility to take care of him at the moment,” says Vaibhav. He managed the situation by administering injections himself and giving medicines to keep his father’s blood pressure under control. It was only on the morning of Wednesday, December 6, that they shifted his father to the MGM hospital, that too with the help of a tractor.
“It was my company that made arrangements for my father’s dialysis at MGM Hospital. We tried reaching out to our local authorities to send some boat or rescue teams but nothing happened. Only the local residents came to help,” he added.
There were also reports about pregnant women going into labour in the midst of the flood and giving birth. However, not all such stories ended with the patients getting the medical help they needed.Ahana, a resident of Pallikaranai, lost her mother - a dialysis patient - on December 6. She couldn't get help even to take her mother's body out. While TNM couldn't reach out to Ahana, her friend confirmed that Ahana and her mother’s body were taken in a boat later that day.
With inputs from Dhanya Rajendran and Korah Abraham