CUTTACK: A 63-year-old woman admitted to the destitute ward of the Medicine department in SCB Medical College and Hospital has reportedly gone missing. The elderly woman was identified as Sulochana Nayak of Sankhameri under Badamba block. According to the FIR filed by her son Prafulla Nayak in Badamba police station, his mother, who is unable to speak, went missing from home on April 29. Prafulla searched for her and came to know that a 19-year-old boy of Gadadharpur in Tigiria found his mother wandering aimlessly in the area and handed her over to the local police.
When Prafulla contacted Tigiria police, he was told that they had admitted her to the destitute ward of SCB’s Medicine department on May 1. He then went to SCB and on inquiry, was informed by the hospital staff that his mother left the ward in the morning on May 2. Prafulla said, “I requested the hospital staff to make efforts to find her but they did not respond. I then met the hospital superintendent who sought two/three days time.” Without any option, he lodged an FIR with Badamba police.
Contacted, Badamba IIC Niranjan Das said based on the FIR, a missing case has been registered and a police team will visit SCB to probe the matter. Notably, 45 volunteers provided by an NGO have been engaged by SCB authorities to attend to destitute patients undergoing treatment at different departments in three shifts. But it is being alleged that due to gross negligence on the part of these volunteers, patients are frequently leaving the destitute wards unnoticed by the hospital staff.