No doctor on duty, patients die in Tamil Nadu hospital

Negligence caused the death of patients who were in need of critical intervention

Two patients died in a government hospital in Ambur due to unavailability of doctors. A 13-year-old girl and a 70-year-old man who were in need of critical intervention died as the duty doctor was absent from the hospital. Patients who were rushed to the hospital lost their lives due to the negligence of medical staff on Sunday.

An elderly man who sustained injuries in an accident was rushed to the Ambur government hospital at around 1.05 PM. For one and a half hours the man lay writhing in pain but no medical attention was given to him. No doctor was available to treat the man identified as Santhanam. With no doctors to treat him and no medical help, the senior citizen succumbed to his injuries. The man's friends were waiting outside the emergency unit and thought that he was being treated. Half an hour later, one of the friends entered the emergency room only to see the senior citizen bleeding, unattended. Multiple requests and demands to the hospital authorities yielded no response. Santhanam's friends were told that no doctor was available at the hospital at the time. Rules mandate that a duty doctor is available at all times in every government hospital irrespective of time and day.

Around the same time, a 13-year-old girl who had developed breathing problems was rushed to the hospital. Vaishnavi, a resident of a nearby village was rushed to the hospital but was not even admitted to the emergency room. For half an hour, the girl continued to battle for breath but no medical help came her way. At 2.30 when a doctor finally arrived, she was declared dead.

Parents of the girl were asked to take her lifeless body out of the hospital. With no ambulance provided, the parents were forced to take her body back to the village, a distance of 13 kms, on a two-wheeler.

Learning of the absence of a duty doctor, pro-right wing group activists protested outside the hospital demanding justice. Officials from the Medical and Rural Health Services who visited the hospital said that the sanctioned strength of doctors in the hospital was seven, but only four doctors were working. "We will redirect two or three doctors to this hospital immediately," said A Shanthi, Joint Director of Medical and Rural Health Services (in-charge)-Vellore.

OneIndia News