CHENNAI: Students of the School of Nursing at the Government Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children staged a protest at its premises on Friday, demanding legal action against attenders of a patient, who allegedly assaulted five nursing students after the patient died on Wednesday. Over 150 diploma students began to stage protest around 8 am in front of the director of the hospital. After the protest, the officials of the management made the students sit in the auditorium for over four hours, restricting them from interacting with the media.
When asked about it, Dr S Vijaya, director of the hospital, said, “They are all trainee students. We didn’t want them to get into any trouble by staging the protest. So, we made them sit inside the auditorium”.
The students stayed inside the auditorium for hours till the Director of Medical Education Dr A Edwin Joe came around 2.30 pm to assure them that their demands would be met.
“The students demanded protection and also wanted CCTV cameras installed. We cannot install CCTVs in the wards as patients’ privacy should be protected. So, we will identity the points for installation after discussing with others,” said Dr Vijaya.
According to doctors, Anthony Ammal (65), resident of Chindaripet, died at the hospital on Wednesday. “She was admitted to the hospital on July 9 with complaints of severe fever and knee swelling. On the day, one of the nursing students, who was on duty, administered injection. After a few minutes, the patient collapsed,” said a senior doctor.
Another doctor said, “As the patient collapsed in the ward, the students put the patient on the stretcher and rushed her to the emergency ward. But the doctors couldn’t save her. The patient’s attenders, who were there, saw this and assaulted five students, saying they were responsible for the patient’s death”.
The doctors also said the staff nurse in the hospital had gone to the blood bank when the incident happened.