It is not the first case that a city private hospital kept a dead person in the ICU for many days to charge an exorbitant ‘treatment’ cost, thanks to the inertia of the State Government that has sat silent after providing land and other supports to private hospitals and leaving people’s lives in the hands of many greedy owners.
This time, such an allegation came to the fore in the AMRI Hospitals located at Khandagiri here when villagers of a deceased person gheraoed the hospital demanding `20 lakh as compensation for negligence in treatment and keeping the corpse in the ICU for two days to charge more cost.
According to a oral complaint, one Sheikh Samsud of Jadupur village on the city outskirts, having neurology problems, had been admitted in the AMRI Hospitals on April 25 on the assurance from doctors that he would be cured in two days’ time. But the hospital kept Samsud in the ICU for long 17 days on pleas of complication. He was discharged from the ICU on May 11.
On the day, the concerned doctors told family members that though Samsud had been recovered fully, yet he should be kept in the general ward for four more days for observation. But after 10 hours of discharge from the ICU, Samsud felt pain in the chest.
His son Sajan informed doctors immediately but nobody turn up and Samsud died there.
When family members protested the negligence, shrewd doctors advised them to admit him in the ICU again. Then Samsud was kept in the hospital for 48 hours.
In the meantime, a nurse, on condition of anonymity, told family members that Samsud has already died and the hospital authoties have kept the corpse in the ICU to charge more cost.
The family members, then, asked doctors to bring the patient out of the ICU. As doctors didn’t agree, they soon informed the Khandagiri police.
Thereafter, the authorities declared that Samsud died on Friday morning. Sajan alleged that his father died due to negligence and said the hospital authorities acceded to it.
The family members demanded Rs 20 lakh as compensation from the hospital. As the authorities didn’t agree, the family members along with co-villagers gheraoed the hospital on Wednesday. The authorities have reportedly told them that they would decide the matter on Saturday.
A question has haunted many now as to how the hospital authorities have agreed to provide compensation when death of patients is a common state of affairs in hospitals.
“The whole incident needs to be investigated so that such incidents would not recur,” demanded locals.