Rights panel notice to BMC chief over rat bite case at hospital

A year after the family of a 27-year-old comatose patient alleged that he was bitten by a rat while he was admitted at Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Trauma Care Municipal Hospital (HBTTC), Jogeshwari, the Maharashtra Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has issued a notice to the civic chief, asking for an explanation.

Based on RTI activist and social worker Chetan Kothari’s complaint, the MHRC has directed the civic chief to be present before it on July 16 and submit his findings.

The incident took place in April 2018 when Parminder Gupta was bitten by a rat near his eye in the general ward after being transferred from the Intensive care Unit (ICU) of the hospital. “I shooed the rat away twice, but after a while, I could not stay awake due to the overnight watch and fell asleep for a minute. Within that time, the rat came and bit him inside the eye,” his father, Ram, had said.

The hospital had denied the allegations and said that the ophthalmology department and the doctor treating the patient ruled out injury marks were that of a rat.

Dr H Bava, who headed the hospital at the time, had said, “We had taken special ophthalmology opinion and I saw the patient personally. There was no injury or bite mark anywhere on the patient’s body, let alone the eye.”

Kothari has demanded an inquiry into the matter and compensation for the victim “Only a month after this incident, Shatabdi hospital, Kandivli, was asked to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation to all three patients who had suffered rat bites during their hospitalisation. However, in the incident at HBTTC, because only one patient was involved, there was no inquiry and the hospital completely got away. They have to submit a report and if found guilty, the victim should get compensation,” said Kothari.

First Published: Jun 25, 2019 15:01 IST