Gujarat: Inquiry ordered after patient thrown out of hospital

Surat: City police ordered an inquiry after it was found that a patient having infection in his legs was allegedly moved out of a government hospital here and thrown on the road by staff members.

The inquiry was ordered by police commissioner Satish Sharma after CCTV footage of the incident that took place in October last year, went viral on social media.

A patient whose name was not known was brought to the hospital from Surat railway station on October 4 with infection in lower body, said Congress councillor from Adajan, Kalpana Patel, who demanded an inquiry into the matter and action against hospital staff involved in the incident.

"He had no caretaker and was taken out of the hospital in the early hours of October 5 before his treatment was completed and dropped on city outskirts," she alleged.

The video footages of hospital CCTV that she recovered under RTI show that the man being wheeled out by three hospital staff and packed off in a vehicle.

"To avoid treating a beggar with no caretaker who had developed infection, the staff threw him out as revealed in CCTV footage. We have demanded inquiry into the incident and also action against erring staff," Patel said.

Later, the patient was re-admitted to the same hospital by people who found him in semi-conscious state.

"A day after the incident, the patient was again brought back after he was found lying in a semi-conscious state by some people on city outskirts and was re-admitted," she said.

In-charge medical superintendent of the hospital Vandana Desai said that graft surgery was conducted on the part of patients legs which were infected after he was re-admitted, and was discharged nearly two-and-half months after he recovered from wounds.

"He had developed infection on parts of his severed legs and we conducted graft surgery on them and discharged him after he recovered," she said.

Desai added that an internal inquiry was initiated by the hospital and action will be taken against staff who were involved in the incident.

"Taking cognisance of the matter after CCTV footage of the incident came to light, we have ordered an inquiry headed by deputy commissioner of police R P Barot," commissioner Sharma said.