AHMEDABAD: Hasmukh Ratilal, 47, was recently operated to open up his knee and thigh blood vessel which had got blocked due to hyper-clotting complication of Covid-19.
It was a double whammy for this poor man from Khambhat who had barely recovered from Covid when the necrosis had set in and he came under the threat of losing his limb.
But fortunately, he came to Dr Manish Raval’s endovascular hospital in Shefali Shopping Center which started a free Covid care centre in May and was treated free of charge for a procedure that would have cost him nothing less than Rs 1.5-2 lakh.
Ironically, Hasmukh was the last patient to get the benefit of free Covid complication care as Dr Raval was directed by the AMC to discharge the patient and shut down the hospital by Friday.
This was part of the recent drive undertaken by AMC following the high court’s order to seal all buildings and hospitals which do not have Building Use permission.
“AMC officials say there is no resolution which can be extended.
My hospital has treated 18 patients free ever since it was turned into a Covid centre on May 8 at the peak of the second wave.
We would have continued to treat patients free till Covid lasted.
In fact, we wanted to start a free mucormycosis ward but guess that is not to be,” Dr Raval said.
He said that his group of friends, all runners, including Delnaz Medora, Ketan Thakkar and others funded the initiative buying ventilators, BiPAP machines, medicines and even food.
Dr Raval says that Shefali Shopping Center was one of the first highrises of the city built in 1983 and the building has ‘raja chitthi’ which was given to the building before it started operations.
In between, AMC had offered to give BU charge impact fees but office owners could not come to a consensus to pay the hefty fee.
“During Covid, we were told to get a fire NOC and we did all that was mandated not only for the building but the entire hospital.
Now, members are ready to pay a fee but AMC says there is no option to end the impasse,” said Dr Raval.