NHRC notice to hospital over patient found in garbage

PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday served a notice on the state government following reports about a Hajipur Sadar Hospital employee allegedly throwing out a patient from the burns ward on Saturday.
In a statement, the NHRC said it has asked the state chief secretary to submit a report on the incident within four weeks. It added, “The NHRC has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports that a patient from the burns ward of Hajipur Sadar Hospital of Vaishali district was allegedly thrown out by a ward boy at a place where the garbage is dumped. The picture of the patient lying on the waste has also been carried.”

The statement said, “Reportedly, he (the patient) was referred by Lal Ganj Referral Hospital for treatment there.” It observed that the contents of the news reports, if true, amount to human rights violations of the patient. It added, “The right to health and proper medical care is one of the basic human rights. Even if the patient himself went out and collapsed, the incident indicates negligence on the part of the ward attendants/ nursing staff of the hospital as he could not be noticed for a long time.”

District magistrate (Vaishali) Rajiv Raushan also sought a detailed report on the incident from Vaishali civil surgeon Indra Deo Ranjan.

Locals claimed that the patient, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, was admitted to the emergency ward of Hajipur Sadar Hospital on Saturday.

Raushan said, “Preliminary investigations suggest that the patient came out of his ward and then went out of the hospital on his own. He was found on a heap of garbage behind the blood bank of the hospital.” He added, “We have checked the CCTV footage.”

He said there were some lapses on the part of the hospital employees. He added, “I have sought a report those who were on duty that day. It is strange that no hospital employee tried to stop the patient from going when the latter was undergoing treatment in the emergency ward.”

The NHRC statement said, “The CCTV footage reportedly shows that the patient had collapsed while going out of the ward. Once, the patient was noticed, he was again taken to the ward where he is undergoing treatment.”