Delhi Cop Who Died Of COVID-19 Was Turned Away By 2 Hospitals, Was On Duty Till The Day Before

A 31-year-old constable who died of COVID-19 on Tuesday has become the first fatality of the Delhi Police to the pandemic. Amit Kumar died at Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Tuesday, hours after he started showing symptoms of COVID-19.

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Kumar, a native of Sonipat in Haryana was posted at the Bharat Nagar police station in northwest Delhi. He had no symptoms of the illness for days and had reported at work till Monday when he first started showing symptoms.

On Tuesday, Kumar's condition worsened and he had fever, cough, and breathlessness. According to Kumar's colleagues, they informed the district control room and their seniors about Kumar¡¯s deteriorating health but received little help from them.

But they were not even provided an official vehicle to transport him and Kumar's colleagues took him to a hospital in a private car.

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In an audio clip, accessed by Indiatimes, two of his colleagues can be heard saying that Kumar was turned away by two hospitals.

Kumar was initially taken to Baba Saheb Ambedkar hospital in Jahangirpuri where doctors refused to admit him, saying they did not have a quarantine facility. He was them taken to the Deep Chand Bandhu hospital where doctors gave him some medicines and asked his colleagues to take him to a quarantine centre.

The colleagues then drove to the RML Hospital and by the time they reached there, Kumar had stopped breathing. His samples which were sent for testing at a private lab returned positive on Wednesday, confirming he had been infected with the COVID-19 virus.

¡°We don¡¯t know why we are risking our lives when no senior officers help us,¡± one of the colleagues was heard saying.

Kumar is survived by his wife and a child. Following his death, ten of his colleagues have been sent to quarantine.

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Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava expressed his sorrow on Twitter and offered support to the family. "The sudden demise of late Constable Amit Kumar from PS Bharat Nagar has saddened the police fraternity. We stand by his family in this hour of grief and pray to the Almighty to provide strength to bear this loss. All assistance to his family will be provided," he tweeted.

The sudden demise of late Constable Amit Kumar from PS Bharat Nagar has saddened the police fraternity. We stand by his family in this hour of grief and pray to the Almighty to provide strength to bear this loss. All assistance to his family will be provided.

¡ª CP Delhi #DilKiPolice (@CPDelhi) May 6, 2020

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal condoled the death of a Delhi Police constable due to coronavirus and said his family will be provided with an ex-gratia of Rs one crore.

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¡ª Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 7, 2020

"Amit ji did not care for his life and kept serving us Delhi people. He got infected with corona and passed away. I pay homage to his sacrifice on behalf of all Delhi people. An ex gratia of Rs one crore will be given to his family," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

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More than 50 cops in Delhi have tested positive for the infection so far. While seven of them have since recovered, two officers a head constable and a constable of the Jahangirpuri Police Station in northwest Delhi joined duty on Saturday afternoon.