ANANTAPUR: A 45-year old construction worker from Dharmavaram town in Anantapur district who came to Anantapur Government General Hospital in the early hours of Friday died allegedly due to negligence of the hospital authorities.
His wife claimed that though she and her pregnant daughter had pleaded with staff to admit her husband to the hospital, they refused and he died five hours later. The staff then came and sprayed disinfectant over his body and shifted him to the mortuary, she said.
At around 8:30 a.m., when news leaked that a man suffering from asthma had died on the hospital premises, media persons rushed to the spot and found a mother and daughter sitting under a tree with the body of the man.
At that time, the hospital staff rushed to the spot and checked his vitals. They found him dead. After spraying disinfectant on the body, they shifted the body on a stretcher to the mortuary, even as the woman and her daughter were crying, blaming negligence of hospital authorities for his death.
It was learnt that the woman along with her daughter came to the hospital with the man in an autorickshaw around 3:30 a.m. and approached the OP to get him admitted, but there was no proper response. So they waited under a tree on the hospital premises and the man died around 8:30 a.m.
When contacted by The New Indian Express, Anantapur GGH Superintendent Dr M Ramaswamy said they are not aware of how they came and whom they contacted.
“If they came in 108 or 104 vehicles, we would have their details and basic information. They claim that they have taken OP ticket, when they were refused admission. Why would we do that? If they had come to the OP at 3:30 am, they would be allocated a bed as there would not be any patient rush at that hour. It seems they have come to GGH at the last minute after visiting other hospitals in the town and being refused treatment. Our staff said they were waiting under a tree on the hospital premises like attendants of patients and only when the woman shouted for doctors, sisters and other paramedics rushed there and checked him but he was no more,” he explained.