Denied wheelchair, woman drags husband on hospital floor

Video footage of Shivamogga incident goes viral

In a shocking incident that highlighted the apathy of staff at a government hospital in Shivamogga, an elderly woman was forced to drag her husband on the floor from the scanning room to the ward after she was denied a wheelchair on Wednesday. The incident happened in McGann Hospital attached to the Shivamogga Institute of Medical Sciences.

With the video footage of the incident going viral on social media, the hospital authorities have suspended four outsourced personnel including three nurses and a Group ‘D’ employee on grounds of negligence.

SIMS Director B.V. Sushil Kumar told press persons on Friday that a committee comprising senior officials would be formed to probe the incident. The CCTV footage of the incident would also be examined, he said.

Amir Saab, 74, a resident of Shivamogga, was admitted to the hospital on May 24 for treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, anaemia and hypertension. He was shifted to the scanning room for some tests. After the tests were done, his wife had to drag him back to the ward as he was denied a wheelchair.

Not the first time

This is not the first time that government hospitals have come under scanner.

Last month, a father had to ride pillion on a bike with the body of his three-year-old son when he could not get a vehicle at the Anekal General Hospital. In October, a woman had given birth on the road after she was refused admission in the the taluk hospital in Aurad of Bidar district.