HC concludes hearing on Italian tourist death case

The Orissa High Court has reserved its order on a PIL alleging that an Italian tourist died in SCB medical college and hospital here due to negligence.

The Orissa High Court has reserved its order on a PIL alleging that an Italian tourist died in SCB medical college and hospital here due to negligence.

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The PIL was filed by a social organisation alleging that the foreign tourist died in the hospital due to negligence in treatment and care. The hearing was concluded with the filing of an affidavit by the Odisha health secretary.

In response to repeated nudges from the HC relating on the death of an Italian tourist in the hospital in 2012, the health secretary in his affidavit has not mentioned a word about the treatment and care of such patients who have no attendant or whose identity is not immediately known.

Division Bench of Justices Indrajit Mohanti and Biswanath Mohapatra expressing displeasure over such "evasive" affidavit, concluded the hearing on the PIL on Thursday and reserved its verdict.

The PIL had said that the 60-year-old Italian had died in the hospital due to negligence and sought adequate compensation to the family of the tourist. The tourist, while on a visit to Konark was taken ill suffering from certain infectious disease and was shifted to the Cuttack hospital for treatment.

Since the patient was not accompanied by any attendant and the Hospital failed to provide him one, the petitioner had mentioned that despite his poor health, he was shifted to a general ward from the ICU.

Conducting an enquiry into the death of the tourist, Cuttack District Collector had submitted a report to the government in January 2013 suggesting that the hospital should have mechanisms in place to take care of "unidentified and unattended" patients. He had also suggested that the ICU should have separate beds for infectious patients.

On these suggestions of the collector, the High Court had asked the health secretary to file an affidavit in which he said steps would be taken to have some separate beds in the ICU for infectious patients. The affidavit also informed that a proposed trauma care of the hospital would have a separate room for treatment of infectious patients.