Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad on Wednesday alleged that the assistant sub inspector, who was deployed at Legislators’ House, who tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon, was made to wait for six hours for an ambulance before being shifted to the hospital.
BBMP health officials went to the spot and waited with the police official until he was shifted to MS Ramaiah hospital at around 8 pm, he said in a tweet.
Rizwan Arshad, the Congress MLA for Shivajinagar constituency lashed out at the BJP government for the delayed response.
“An ASI who tested positive for COVID was made to wait for 6 hrs for an ambulance & this happened in LH, next to Vidhana Soudha. If this is the level of response for a public servant in a VIP area, imagine the fate of the common public!” he tweeted.
An ASI who tested positive for COVID was made to wait for 6 hrs for an ambulance & this happened in LH, next to Vidhana Soudha.
— Rizwan Arshad (@ArshadRizwan) June 24, 2020
If this is the level of response for a public servant in a VIP area, imagine the fate of the common public!@dp_satish @anusharavi10 @dhanyarajendran
The 50 year old ASI (Additional Sub-Inspector) police officer was allegedly forced to wait in the outpost all alone, as no one was willing to go near him, after he identified as the police official who had tested positive on Tuesday afternoon, at around 3 pm, Rizwan told TNM.
Shive Gowda, the BBMP Health Officer for Shivajinagar said, “I went to the spot (where the official was posted) at around 5.45 pm. The ambulance was delayed for about two hours after I went there. The ambulance kept delaying, and finally we were able to shift the patient to MS Ramaiah Hospital.”
Rizwan Arshad also told TNM that there was a shortage of ambulances in Shivajinagar ward.
“Even in Bowring Hospital, there are no ambulances available to transport dead bodies of patients with COVID-19. An NGO is doing that work instead. What was the government doing the two months that there was lockdown? They should have been preparing for the increasing number of cases and deaths. But there is nothing like that. What was the government doing?” he questioned.