The Medical Board constituted to conduct an enquiry into the death of Murugan, a native of Tirunelveli who died at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, has given a clean chit to doctors, whose alleged negligence had killed him.
The Kerala State Human Rights Commission has now sought the report from the Medical Board.
Murugan died allegedly due to refusal of emergency treatment by several hospitals after he met with an accident in Kollam in 2017. He was allegedly denied emergency treatment by five hospitals including the Govt Medical College as well.
Commission member K Mohankumar has directed health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan to submit a report within two weeks. It also directed that the minutes of the Medical Board meeting be presented before the Commission.
The Commission’s move comes against the backdrop of media reports which said that the Medical Board found that by the time Murugan was to the hospital, it was beyond the ability of the doctors to rescue him. The Medical Board report also said that Murugan was brain dead when he was brought to the hospital.
As per the Commission’s direction, the report and minutes should be presented at the Thiruvananthapuram office of the Commission within two weeks.
Earlier, in an enquiry conducted by the health department, it was found that Murugan was initially not admitted at the medical college though there was one VVIP ventilator and 16 stand-by ventilators present at the hospital at the time of the incident.
The Commission had taken suo motu notice and filed a case in the death of Murugan.
46-year old Murugan was injured in a road accident at Chathanoor on August 6, 2017 when he was riding pillion on a bike.
Nearly three months after his death, the police had filed a report with the Human Rights Commission stating that his death was due to medical negligence. The police also stated that despite senior doctors at the neuro department being present in the hospital at the time of the incident, none of them attended to Murugan.