Two days after the death of a 75-year-old patient at the district government hospital in Vidisha, a ward attendant was suspended and show cause notices were issued to three doctors and a nurse for allegedly not getting the patient’s body removed for one day. Vidisha is the parliamentary constituency of union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
The patient, Vijay Rai, died during treatment on Friday and his body lay beneath his bed for one day even after other patients and their relatives demanded removal of the body but the hospital staff didn’t pay heed to their demand.
It was only after the body started decomposing and stench made patients and their relatives upset then they called media when the body was removed.
According to sources, Rai was admitted on August 8. He was suffering from general disabilities and Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (PUO). He wasn’t accompanied by any relative in the hospital. An eye witness said he died on Friday. “We didn’t see any movement in him. We informed hospital staff that Rai either died or fainted but they didn’t do anything,” said the eye witness.
At night, despite giving information to ward attendant Imrat Lal, he didn’t act. In the morning, a pungent smell of his decomposing body spread in the male ward and then one of the relatives of a patient called media. When mediamen reached on Saturday morning, the matter came into light. Only after that, the hospital administration swung into action and shifted the body to mortuary. A team of three doctors performed postmortem and handed over the body to police.
{{/usCountry}}At night, despite giving information to ward attendant Imrat Lal, he didn’t act. In the morning, a pungent smell of his decomposing body spread in the male ward and then one of the relatives of a patient called media. When mediamen reached on Saturday morning, the matter came into light. Only after that, the hospital administration swung into action and shifted the body to mortuary. A team of three doctors performed postmortem and handed over the body to police.
{{/usCountry}}Despite sheer negligence of hospital staff, Vidisha civil surgeon Shekhar Jalvankar gave only show cause notices to three doctors -- SK Sahu, Ashok Jain, Sanjay Khare and nurse Bela Swami.
Meanwhile, AAP general secretary Akshay Hunka also raised the issue and raised questions over poor health facilities in the state. “The condition of medical facilities in MP can be evaluated from this incident. When hospital staff and doctors are showing apathy towards patient in Vidisha, which is just 50 Km from the capital city and constituency of cabinet minister Sushma Swaraj, we can easily imagine the condition of medical facilities in interior areas of the state,” said the AAP leader.