KOCHI: The police probing the death of Tamil Nadu native Murugan, who died after he was denied timely medical aid, informed the Kerala High Court on Thursday none of the hospital authorities had made any attempt to save his life. Justifying their decision to proceed against the doctors under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), the police said the evidence collected so far had revealed an omission on the part of the hospitals’ authorities in affording Murugan treatment for his suspected head injury.
“The first information statement of the informant who took Murugan to the hospitals clearly reveals an offence under IPC Section 304,” said investigating officer G Ajayanath (Inspector of Police, Kottiyam), in his report filed in response to the anticipatory bail plea of doctors Bilal Ahmed of Kollam, Srikanth Valasappalli and Patrick Paul. According to the police, the doctor knew failing to afford treatment to a patient who suffered a very serious accident and was suspected to have head injuries might lead to the patient losing his life. The hospitals failed to ascertain the head injury and afford basic treatment for it.
The probe was in progress and revealed the hospitals where Murugan was taken to, refused treatment on account of non-availability of vacant ventilators. The postmortem also revealed he died due to head injuries. The police said action had been taken for constituting a medical board for evaluating the entire circumstances in the backdrop of the treatment protocol for reaching a final conclusion. Expert opinion was also sought on the sustainability of incorporation of IPC Section 304.