Two-and-a-half months after Murugan, a migrant labourer died after being denied treatment by five hospitals, the Thiruvananthapuram police on Wednesday filed a report with the Human Rights Commission stating that his death was due to medical negligence.
The police report states that Murugan, a road accident victim, was brought to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital on August 6 night and a postgraduate student from the neuro department was sent to check upon him. It also notes the doctor had stated that there no ventilators available at the hospital and as a result made Murugan, who was in a critical condition, wait until 3am that night.
In its report, the Thiruvananthapuram police also stated that despite senior doctors at the neuro department being present in hospital at the time, no one attended to Murugan. The police also alleged that doctors at the hospital are not cooperating with the inquiry and officials were not ready to send details about the ventilator facilities available at the hospital.
The report also states that although the police had asked which patients were using the ventilators at the time of Murugan’s admission, the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital had not given its reply.
On August 6, forty-six-year-old Murugan, a migrant labourer from Tirunelveli, was riding pillion on a bike when he met with an accident at Kottiyam in Kollam district.
He was rushed to KIMS hospital, where he was diagnosed with brain haemorrhage. Since there were no ventilator facilities there, he was taken to Meditrina Hospital in Kollam, but they declined to admit him, claiming that there was no neurosurgeon. Following this, he was rushed to Medicity Hospital in Kollam, where doctors refused to admit him.
He was then brought to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, 65 kilometres from Kollam, where there was no ventilator facility.
Subsequently, he was taken to the SUT hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, which also claimed there was no neurosurgeon and denied him admission.
Murugan was brought back to Kollam to Azeezia Medical College, which also rejected his admission for the same reason.
It was when was on his way to the Kollam General Hospital that he died.
A case was registered against all hospitals except KIMS. The police inquiry report was mainly against the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College as it is a government hospital and had the ventilator facility.