A man, aged around 40, who went missing from the Tambaram Taluk Government Hospital in Chromepet four days ago, was traced and re-admitted on Friday. While residents who traced him said he was sent from the ward, hospital authorities denied it.
Ravi, a native of Tuticorin, was found lying on the platform outside National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram Sanatorium, by Austin, a tourist from the United States on Saturday. Noticing Austin providing drinking water and bread, passers-by stopped to help him.
They then got Ravi admitted to the Chromepet GH. He was suffering from diarrhoea, staff said.
On Tuesday, he went missing, without being noticed by the ward staff or security personnel on duty. On Friday, they received information that he was lying on the road side a few hundred metres away from the hospital. Staff nurses then went to the spot and brought Ravi back and re-admitted him, hospital authorities said.
They stated that no staff would ask an unattended patient to leave after a few days of treatment.
According to them, Ravi was under the influence of alcohol when he was brought back on Friday.