Protest after hospitals in Kerala refuse treatment to injured man

Coimbatore: Family members of a labourer employed in Kerala, who suffered serious injuries after a colleague attacked him with a sickle, staged a protest at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Monday alleging that hospitals in the neighbouring State refused medical care to the injured man.

The victim, Rajendran, 36, from Ariyalur, was working as a labourer at Kuttippuram in Malappuram district of Kerala, his wife Kalpana said. "He was staying with his colleagues Shankar and Kotteeshwaran. A verbal argument broke out between Rajendran and Kotteeshwaran on Saturday night after Rajendran accused Kotteeshwaran of stealing money from him. Kotteeshwaran, who went out, came back to the room drunk when Rajendran was sleeping and attacked him with a sickle. He suffered injuries on his legs and hands. A leg was nearly severed in the attack," she told TOI.

Shankar rushed the bleeding man to the Kuttippuram Taluk Hospital. "However, hospital authorities turned them away saying that they could not treat the injury as the cuts were too deep. From there, Shankar took him in an ambulance to the Thrissur Government Hospital, where they were told that the hospital was not equipped to deal with such an injury. The Government Medical College in Kozhikode also turned them away citing the same reason. As Rajendran's condition kept deteriorating, he was brought to CMCH at 6am on Monday," Kalpana said.

After doctors at CMCH said that a foot had to be amputated, relatives of Rajendran staged a protest in front of CMCH's trauma ward on Monday afternoon against the Kerala government and taluk hospitals for not giving him even first aid. "They did nothing to even control the bleeding. He was refused medical care as he was from Tamil Nadu," a relative said.

Meanwhile, superintendent of the Government Medical College in Kozhikode told TOI that an inquiry has been launched into the incident. "The Kuchipuram Taluk Hospital did not have facilities to do a vascular surgery. So, they referred him to the Thrissur Government Hospital, which again did not have facilities to do such a surgery and referred him to the Government Medical College in Kozhikode. We have facilities to do a vascular surgery, but it had already been 11 hours since the incident occurred. So, the medical officer on duty and Orthopedic surgeon said we can't promise to save the limb. We first gave him primary care including saving his life by stabilising blood pressure. We then ordered investigation into the injury including testing his fitness for anaesthesia. It was sometime during Sunday that his attender expressed desire to take the patient to their hometown. We arranged a charitable organisation to transport them with life support from here to Coimbatore," he said.