A viral claim doing rounds on social media these days, saying that an elderly RSS worker “gave up” his bed at a Covid hospital to a younger person is under doubt now.

Doctors have said 85-year-old NarayanraoDabhadkar, who died three days later at home, indeed had taken discharge against medical advice (DAMA), but there was no clarity over the claim that he had given up his bed for someone else.

A statement or “news” issued by RSS on Tuesday claimed, “Dabhadkar had secured a bed at the Indira Gandhi Rugnalay after a lot of running around. When brought to the hospital, he was barely able to breathe and all the formalities for his admission to the hospital had been completed. It was then that Dabhadkar saw a woman wailing and requesting the authorities to admit her 40-year-old husband and provide him with oxygen. Her children were also crying. Dabhadkar told the medical staff that he was 85 and had lived his life and if there are no beds available, the bed reserved for him be given to the man whose family needs him.”

The statement further read, “Dabhadkar’s son-in-law and doctors tried to explain to him that it was necessary to treat him and that there was no guarantee that he would get another bed. Dabhadkar, however, called up his daughter and said he is returning home, which would be the right thing to do. Being her father’s daughter, she understood his feelings. Dabhadkar signed the consent letter and returned home, where he died after three days.”

SheeluChimurkar, the doctor in charge at the hospital run by the Nagpur Municipal Corporation, however, said, “Dabhadkar was admitted at 5.55 pm on April 22 and we had put him on an oxygenated bed in the casualty ward. We told the relatives accompanying him that he will have to be moved to a higher hospital in case his condition deteriorates. They agreed and left. They returned at 7.55 pm and sought his discharge. We don’t know the reason but advised them that he should be taken to a higher hospital. After his son-in-law Amol Pachpor signed the consent letter, we gave him discharge against medical advice.”

Asked about the claim doing the rounds on social media, Chimurkar said, “Our staff on duty on the day was not witness to any such incident.”

According to the news, Nagpur resident with dipping oxygen levels died at home after getting himself discharged from hospital against medical advice because he apparently didn’t want to block a bed after seeing the wife of a 40-year-old Covid-19 patient pleading for admission.

“I am 85. I have lived my life. Saving the life of a young man is more important. Their children are young…please give my bed to them,” he told the doctors, as reported by media.