A hospital in Darbhanga, Bihar, was vandalised on Sunday after a Covid-19 patient died at the state-run medical institution, reported The Times of India. Another hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, was also ransacked on Monday after a coronavirus patient succumbed to the disease, reported The Indian Express.
In Bihar, relatives of a coronavirus patient ransacked Darbhanga Medical College after he was found lying at the hospital’s washroom. The protestors broke glass window panes and ransacked the furniture. The police intervened to bring the situation under control.
On Sunday, the father of the 30-year-old Covid patient had reached the hospital with food for his son. He was not allowed to meet him and asked to hand over the bag containing food items to a hospital staffer, according to The Times of India.
The staff member later told the patient’s father that his son had died in the washroom. Relatives of the man have alleged that he was not treated properly at the hospital.
However, Mani Bhusan Sharma, the superintendent of the hospital, denied negligence, reported PTI. Sharma said the patient’s condition was stable before he was found dead.
Darbhanga District Magistrate Thyagrajan SM called the patient’s death unfortunate, but said that vandalising the hospital’s property was equally deplorable. “An FIR [first information report] has been lodged and strict action would be taken against those found guilty of creating ruckus at the hospital,” the district magistrate said.
Gujarat
In Gujarat, relatives of a Covid-19 patient ransacked the Civil Hospital in Sola, Ahmedabad, after she died due to the infection. Three people have been arrested in connection with the vandalisation.
The police said that commotion was reported around 12.30 am on Monday after the death of the 45-year-old woman, who is a resident of Thaltej town in Ahmedabad district.
“The patient was admitted in the hospital on April 8 and was admitted in the ICU [intensive care unit] after she faced breathing issues,” Resident Medical Officer in-charge Pradip Patel told The Indian Express. “Around 10 pm on Sunday, her health deteriorated and attempts were made to call her relatives on phone but they couldn’t be reached.”
Later, around five relatives of the woman entered the Covid-19 intensive care unit ward and vandalised the medical equipment, according to the police. “The nurses and the doctors were chased with sticks and they had to confine themselves on the fifth floor to save their lives,” Patel said. “The group then broke the computer and CPU, other medical equipment and cut the electrical cable at the ICU ward.”
The resident medical officer told The Indian Express that the relatives broke spirit bottles in order to set fire. “They also broke the glass doors and glass windows on the fifth floor where the staff was hiding,” he said. “The police then reached the spot and rescued the staff.”
The police said that the arrested persons have been identified as Uday Thakor, Sagar Thakor and Jitendra Thakor. All of them are residents of Thaltej town and have been booked under Indian Penal Code’s Sections 323 for causing hurt, 294B for obscenity, 186 for obstructing a public servant from duty, 336 for rash act endangering human life, and 114 for an offence committed when abettor is present.
A police official said that the situation at the hospital was now under control.
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