60-yr-old cries foul against doc

The Tilak Nagar police are refusing to register a case of medical negligence against a Chembur-based doctor after the family of a 60-year-old man alleged that the patient developed complications following faulty treatment.

The Tilak Nagar police are refusing to register a case of medical negligence against a Chembur-based doctor after the family of a 60-year-old man alleged that the patient developed complications following faulty treatment.

HT Image

The patient, Virendra Gupta, has visited four hospitals in a month, but is yet to be cured.

He is now being treated at a private hospital in Charni Road and his family, which has already spent Rs 4 lakh on his treatment, is reeling under debt.

Despite Gupta’s complaints no action has been taken against Dr A A Rehman, the physician the family has complained against.

“I received the application on Friday. We will be recording the doctor’s statement and conduct a detailed inquiry,” Ramesh Gavit, senior inspector of Tilak Nagar police station said.

“The first information report will be registered depending on the findings.”

It stared on November 9 when Gupta complained of fever and giddiness.

His family contacted Dr Rehman who visited their house, administered an injection and prescribed a tablet. By night, Gupta had developed a painful swelling on his left hip.

The family has alleged that Gupta developed an infection and became critical after Dr Rehman treated him.

Dr Rehman, who runs his clinic at Janta Nagar, Chembur (West), denied the allegations. “It is a case of acute renal failure,” he said, adding that the family has been making false allegations because they ‘do not understand medical science’.

The family admitted Gupta to a hospital in Tilak Nagar where he was operated upon. Two days later he had to be move out because the hospital did not have a 24-hour dialysis centre.

The family checked two other hospitals in Mumbai before admitting him to a hospital in Thane.

His sons were forced to shift him out of the Thane hospital because bills were mounting. “When the doctor told us that the expenses had already gone up to Rs 6 lakh, we asked him for a way out as we only had

Rs 10,000 left with us,” said Gupta’s wife Sushila (45).

“We have mortgaged both our houses and sold off all our valuables,” said the patient’s younger son, Mahesh (23), who does odd jobs.

His older son, Ganesh runs a provisional store in Chembur.