Covid-19 patients now starved at Telangana's TIMS Hospital

 

Hundreds of Covid-19 patients have not been fed on time for many hours at the Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences over the past 36 hours.

This follows the TIMS management, a hospital run by the Telangana State Government, banning patient attendants and families from bringing food from home, or outside, for delivery to their loved ones undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the hospital.

A patient in the hospital, who reached out to this correspondent was in tears reporting that another patient in a ward he was in, died from hunger. “That patient was a diabetic and did not get dinner last night, and breakfast this morning. He just died of hunger. Please help us get food on time,” the patient begged.

“Please call the Director, the doctors or anyone. We are hungry,” the patient pleaded.

With most patients at TIMS on high doses of steroids as part of the Covid-19 treatment, their hunger levels stay high, which in turn means they need to be fed well, and multiple meals if needed.

Deccan Chronicle can also confirm that many patients were not provided their dinner on Wednesday night, well past midnight.

Patients in entire floors are being made to wait for long hours for breakfasts, lunches and dinners.

And even if, and when the hospital-provided food arrives, it is of ‘compromised quality’, as per information collected by Deccan Chronicle from multiple sources.

It is learnt that the current canteen contractor is expressing helplessness in finding people to work in a Covid-19 hospital, and because of this, is unable to have food delivered on time to all patients in all the floors of the hospital. It is also learnt that the TIMS management is in the process of replacing the food contractor and new one is expected to take over in a couple of days.

The TIMS management decided to crackdown on food being brought from the outside because the officials believed that patient attendants and families were complaining about the deplorable conditions at the hospital. It may be recalled that Deccan Chronicle, on April 27, carried an expose ‘Covid-19 patients exploited at Telangana’s TIMS hospital’, about how patients and their families were being put through the grid by staff working at the hospital demanding money for even basic services such as providing drinking water to the patients.

 

Instead of addressing the issue, the TIMS management, which reports directly to the Telangana State Health Department, decided to cut off access to the hospital for patient families and as part of this exercise, banned delivery of food to patients by families.