Around 500 railway employees, affiliated to Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU), staged a demonstration at the Railway Hospital here, alleging that medical negligence by doctors led to the death of a technician attached to Virudhunagar signal department on Tuesday.
The technician, Susil Raj (56), was suffering from renal ailment, and the doctors in Virudhunagar referred him to the Railway Hospital here.
About a week ago, the doctors admitted him as inpatient. Meanwhile, his condition deteriorated, and the doctors suggested that he be taken to the Railway Hospital in Chennai as the Madurai hospital was not equipped with facilities to perform dialysis.
However, the family members said the patient should immediately be referred to some private hospital here which could perform dialysis. Even as the argument was on, Susil Raj died on Tuesday morning. As the news of his death spread, agitated railway employees assembled at the hospital and shouted slogans. SRMU divisional secretary Rafi, additional divisional secretary Ramkumar and others laid siege to the hospital and demanded justice.
Chief Medical Superintendent Shahoo explained the steps taken by the doctors from the time of Susil Raj’s admission. The agitators, however, demanded a written statement from railway higher-ups permitting the railway hospital to refer patients to private hospitals in emergency situations as it did not have some advanced facilities.
The agitators were informed that top officials had agreed to permit employees to go to private hospitals, following which the employees withdrew their protest, after close to five hours.
