Sassoon incident: Patient being bitten by rats is unacceptable, says DMER
Earlier on April 1, Sagar Renuse, 30, who had been admitted to the ICU of Sassoon died while undergoing treatment. Renuse’s relatives claimed that rat bites were visible at two to three places on his body
After receiving the report on Thursday from the three-member committee constituted to investigate the alleged rat bite-induced death of a patient in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Sassoon General Hospital (SGH), the director of medical education and research (DMER) has promised to take stern action in the matter, emphasising that such incidents cannot be taken lightly.
Earlier on April 1, Sagar Renuse, 30, who had been admitted to the ICU of SGH died while undergoing treatment. Renuse’s relatives claimed that rat bites were visible at two to three places on his body and most likely occurred late Monday night. Renuse, a resident of Velha, was admitted to the ICU located on the ground floor of the old hospital building. Renuse had been admitted to SGH on March 17 after falling from a bridge.
After Renuse’s kin alleged that he died of multiple rat bites while in the ICU, the committee was constituted. The committee visited SGH on Wednesday and carried out an inspection. The report was submitted to the DMER Thursday evening.
DMER Dr Deelip Mhaisekar said, “The committee has submitted the report on Thursday and we will go through it on Friday. Stern action will be taken against the people responsible for the incident. Immediate death of a patient following a rat bite is not possible but rats biting critical patients admitted to the ICU or any patients for that matter is unacceptable. Someone has to take responsibility for the laxity.”
Renuse’s relatives accused the hospital administration of negligence and demanded that an FIR be lodged against the hospital management and concerned doctors who had been monitoring Renuse. The kin of the deceased submitted a written complaint to Dr Vinayak Kale, dean of BJMC.
{{/usCountry}}Renuse’s relatives accused the hospital administration of negligence and demanded that an FIR be lodged against the hospital management and concerned doctors who had been monitoring Renuse. The kin of the deceased submitted a written complaint to Dr Vinayak Kale, dean of BJMC.
{{/usCountry}}Kale said that the patient was paralysed neck down and had undergone surgery for spinal cord injury. Later, his condition turned critical and he was kept on ventilator support from March 29 and succumbed to his injuries. “Instant death due to rat bites is not possible and it takes at least 10 days to three months for a death to occur in such incidents. The investigation committee has completed its probe and submitted the report,” he said.
Dr Ajay Tawre, medical superintendent of SGH, said that pest control is carried out regularly in the hospital and the same had been carried out just two to three days before the incident. “We are working towards making the entire hospital and college campus rodent-free,” he said.
