LHC turns away patient with cardiac ailment

In the ongoing controversy involving the country’s unvaccinated…

A MIDDLE-AGED PATIENT WITH A PERSISTENT CARDIAC PROBLEM was turned
from the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) because she isn’t inoculated for protection against the
deadly COVID-19 ailment.
“I work at a government building in Linden, so I am aware that persons without their vaccination
card could not enter certain offices. However, what I know is that as it relates to the hospital,
once it’s an emergency there were no restrictions, but this wasn’t the case,” the woman speaking
to www.aroundtheregions.com on strict conditions of anonymity, recalled.
She fell ill after eating a fried rice purchased from a restaurant, but thought lightly about the
feelings, since she intermittently feels that way as a patient with a heart ailment. However, the
Wismar resident recalled after the feeling persisted longer than usual, preliminary tests revealed
her blood pressure was extraordinarily high.
She hurriedly took a taxi to the LHC to get professional medical intervention.
“When I approached the gate, I was asked by a security officer at the hospital for my vaccination
card. I explained that I am not vaccinated but I have an emergency. He told me that I cannot
enter. I pleaded with him explaining that I am a patient at the hospital and is expected to return to
the clinic on August 13 but he still refused.”
“I begged him explaining that my blood pressure was exceptionally high and I needed urgent
medical attention, but he told me that only persons being transported via an ambulance can be
considered as emergency as those visiting by foot or taxi isn’t considered an emergency case. I
was devastated,” the patient recalled.
The woman rushed to a private practitioner for possible life-saving treatment.
“If it wasn’t for Dr Farouk Riyasat, I may have been dead by now,” she surmised.
“He gave me some medication to reduce my blood pressure and advised me to have a complete
checkup considering that I have my medical challenges,” involving my heart, the woman noted.

Dr Riyasat was a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the LHC.
Shocked by the heartless treatment meted out to her by the LHC security-turned-healthcare-
worker, the woman is planning future visits to a private physician and clinic to manage her heart
condition.
“This is pure nonsense. Since when can security officers at a hospital make such important life
and death decisions? I was not even allowed to see a nurse or doctor to determine that decision
but the security guard has one agenda and that is I was without my vaccination card so I can’t
enter. This will result in people losing their lives as the hospital’s management has to be more
responsible. Even if you want to enforce the law, have a medically competent professional
decide from those seeking medical attention who are emergency cases,” she counselled.
“You telling me that I got to be in an ambulance before you consider me as an
emergency?” the woman queried in disbelief.