THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The family of a 35-year-old man hailing from Palode, who died while undergoing treatment at a city hospital, has approached the police alleging that medical negligence on the part of the hospital staff had cost his life.
The family members alleged that the doctors did not provide proper treatment to Akhil Mohan, who was admitted to the casualty department of SK Hospital at Edapazhanji, in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Akhil’s uncle Abhilash M said Akhil suffered a heart attack on Monday. Akhil, who was a lorry driver, collapsed at Venjaramoodu and was first admitted to Nedumangad Taluk Hospital. From there, he was shifted to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.
“There was no bed available at the Medical College Hospital and Akhil was having breathing discomfort. So, he was taken to another private hospital where the doctors confirmed he had a heart attack. On their advice we shifted him to SK Hospital by 1am. The doctors at the casualty were shown all the medical reports, but they maintained his condition was okay and there was no cardiac issue,” Abhilash said.
Abhilash further alleged that the senior cardiology doctors initially did not visit the patient, while the juniors maintained he was alright. When Akhil’s woes worsened, he was moved to the ventilator.
“We alerted Poojappura police sensing that something was fishy. The police came and talked to the doctors. The doctors flipped their stand and said the patient was in a bad shape and he had to be moved to some other hospital for better treatment. While we were discussing the hospital shift, they announced that he had died due to a massive cardiac arrest,” Abhilash added.
Poojappura police station Inspector said the relatives of Akhil have verbally communicated their allegation that there was medical negligence from the part of the hospital. “They are yet to file an official complaint,” the officer said.
The relatives, meanwhile, filed a complaint with Aruvikkara station as the deceased was living in that area. “We have received a complaint from the relatives of the deceased. But we cannot register a case as the incident occurred within Poojappura station limits,” said the Aruvikkara police sub-inspector.
Hospital denies allegation
Meanwhile the hospital officials have denied the allegation. Dr Sandhya Pradeep, chief executive officer of SK Hospital, told TNIE that the patient was brought to the hospital on Monday night.
He was first taken to Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital and then to a private hospital in Sasthamangalam, she added.
“The relatives of the already sick patient took him to SK Hospital after taking him to two other hospitals. He was diagnosed as having heart-related issues and was asked to undergo angiogram. But on examination it was found that the patient did not have to undergo angiogram as his lungs were already white in colour. He died on Tuesday around 8pm before anything could be done,” Dr Sandhya said.
She added that tense situation was deliberately initiated by the relatives which led to police arriving at SK Hospital. “We have demanded a postmortem examination from our side. The police will take the body to the mortuary on Wednesday. The relatives have also been informed of the same and they have agreed for the postmortem examination”, she added.