Ward no: 9 in the General Hospital (GH), where destitute patients are housed, again became the centre of public attention on Saturday following an unfortunate incident which occurred in the early hours of the day. According to Health officials, one of the elderly and destitute patients in ward 9 died in the early hours on Saturday.
The body was being transferred in a stretcher by two women employees of the hospital to the mortuary, which is some distance away from the ward, when the stretcher wheel hit some obstacle and the body fell off the stretcher. All hell broke loose afterwards, according to the Health officials, as some people who were witness to the incident inside the hospital campus recorded this and alerted the visual media.
The district health administration officials said that though the incident was not deliberate, action had to be taken against the two hospital employees, who were pushing the trolley, for alleged disrespect shown to the deceased person.
Two suspended
A daily wages employee and a nursing assistant in the hospital were suspended by the District Medical Officer pending enquiry.
A number of MLAs and representatives of various political parties crowded the GH for long protesting against the pathetic condition of those destitute persons housed in ward 9, which, at present, has 80 patients.
Hospital authorities said that the ward was overcrowded but that the authorities were helpless as the hospital could not turn away any new admissions to the ward nor could they discharge any one as they would have to be turned out onto the streets.
