Mumbai: A week after a 56-year-old police constable attached to the Kurla traffic division was admitted to a civic-run hospital after displaying Covid-19 symptoms and tested positive last Friday, he succumbed to the disease on Monday. Police said Head Constable Shivaji Sonawane had complained of fever and mild symptoms last week, after which he was admitted to King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital. His contact history is being traced and his family is also being tested.
Sonawane, who is survived by his wife and a son, resided in the Kamani area in Kurla. On April 20, he felt feverish and approached a general physician at a private clinic. The following day, Sonawane’s doctor advised him to get admitted to the civic-run Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. At Rajawadi, the doctors there asked him to go to Kasturba Hospital. Accordingly, the constable’s son, who was accompanying him, took him to Kasturba.
But their troubles were far from over, as at Kasturba Hospital, once again, doctors declined to admit Sonawane, citing unavailability of beds. He was then asked to go to BYL Nair Hospital. Once again, he was turned away by the hospital for the same reason and asked to go to KEM Hospital. At KEM, matters came full circle, with Sonawane being referred to Kasturba Hospital. When the entire episode was brought to the notice of Senior Inspector Vinod Randive of Kurla traffic division, he was enraged at this red-tapism and
he promptly wrote to his counterpart at Bhoiwada police station and the police control room, requesting intervention and immediate admission of the police constable at KEM Hospital. Only then was Sonawane finally admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of KEM Hospital, where fresh swab samples were collected from him. On Friday, he was found positive. His condition remained stable until Saturday but on Sunday, he took a turn for the worse and succumbed to the disease on Monday, said an officer.
Earlier on Saturday, a 57-year-old police head constable attached to the Vakola police station, Chandrakant Ganapat Pendurkar, who had been undergoing treatment for Covid-19, died at the BYL Nair Hospital. The following day, another policeman, Head Constable Sandip Surve, 53, succumbed to the disease at MGM Hospital in Kamothe, Navi Mumbai.
Until Sunday, around 39 police personnel had tested positive for coronavirus in Mumbai and are under treatment at various hospitals.