A 63-year-old man who was taken to Vijayawada’s new Government General Hospital (GGH), one of the dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in Krishna district, has been missing for more than a week. Vasantha Rao was taken to the hospital on June 24, accompanied by his wife. According to police, she left him there to go back home for the night, but when she returned the next day, hospital staff were clueless about where her husband was.
Vijayawada One Town Circle Inspector P Venkateswarulu said that the CCTV footage shows Vasantha Rao being taken inside the hospital in a wheelchair on June 24, but none of the footage since then shows him leaving the hospital. The man’s family told The New Indian Express that he had previously tested negative for coronavirus.
“They went to the hospital again since he was unwell again, and was fatigued. The CCTV footage shows him being taken inside in a wheelchair, but the hospital staff and authorities are unable to answer which ward he was taken to for treatment, and whether he is still in the hospital. The hospital records do not show that he was admitted to the hospital,” CI Venkateswarulu said.
After receiving no response from the hospital authorities, the family registered a case with the One Town police on June 29. Police have registered a missing person case under section 174 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure).
The new GGH is one of the three dedicated COVID-19 hospitals in Krishna district. The other two are Pinnamaneni Institute Of Medical Sciences in Gannavaram, and the Nimra Institute of Medical Sciences at Ibrahimpatnam, both of them private hospitals.
The Superintendent of the hospital was unavailable for comment, while district medical and health department officials declined to comment, claiming that they were unaware of the case details.
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