SHAJAPUR: In a shocking incident, an elderly man was tied to his hospital bed allegedly over non-payment of the private hospital dues in Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh on Friday.
The patient Laxminarayan Dangi's daughter, Sheela Dangi, alleged that her father was tied to the hospital bed by the hospital staff over non-payment of dues worth Rs 11,270. The hospital management has, however, denied the allegations saying since the old man was having convulsions, he had to be tied up so that he would not hurt himself.
Dangi stated that her father was complaining acute pain in stomach owing to which five days back they took him to the Shajapur district hospital, where the doctors asked the family to take him either to Indore or Ujjain for treatment.
“Since we didn’t have enough money to afford the expensive treatment, we decided to get him admitted at a reputed private hospital in Shajapur only. On Monday, when my father was admitted at the hospital, we deposited Rs 6000 cash and a couple of days later we deposited Rs 5000 more. Whatever money was with us was totally exhausted, so we requested the doctors to discharge my father,” she said.
She alleged that instead of allowing her father to get discharged, the staff at the hospital tied him to the bed on Friday. Both his legs and hand were tied with ropes. The doctors told me that till we don't deposit the pending Rs 11,270, they won’t allow my father to go. They didn’t even give him water when he asked for it.”
The hospital head Dr Varun Bajaj, however, rubbished Sheela’s allegations. “The elderly patient was suffering from electrolyte imbalance and also had intestinal blockage for which he was being treated. As the patient was also having convulsions, we tied him to the bed to prevent him from injuring self. In cases of convulsions, patients are tied to the bed. His remaining bills were all waived off. He wasn’t tied to the bed for recovery of dues.”
As the matter of alleged cruelty with the elderly patient came to light on Saturday evening, the Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan tweeted “the cruelty with a senior citizen at a hospital in Shajapur district has come to my notice. The culprits won’t be spared and strict action would be initiated against them.”
Meanwhile, the Shajapur district administration has directed the chief medical and health officer (CMHO) to probe the entire incident and report the findings.