A 50-year-old autorickshaw driver from Bengaluru, who was being treated in the COVID-19 ICU ward at Victoria Hospital, ended his life on Monday morning.
Sources in the hospital said that the patient [P-466], who had suffered renal failure and was on dialysis for the last four years, was depressed after he saw P-465 succumb to the infection on Sunday.
‘Not a COVID-19 death’
The Health Department’s bulletin issued on Monday said the patient died of “non-COVID” reasons and the death was not considered as a COVID-19 death.
A statement by Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) Dean and Director C.R. Jayanthi stated that a psychiatrist evaluation revealed that the incident could have been due to an impulsive decision as he did not have any earlier symptoms of depression.
“The patient Syed Babu, who was admitted on April 24 in the Emergency and Trauma Care Centre, had also tested positive for hepatitis C infection and was admitted in the ICU on the sixth floor,” the statement said. “He was dialysed on April 25 and was due for another dialysis on April 27. He was all right the previous night. He had breakfast in the morning on Monday and requested for another helping. The doctors and nurses, who were on duty at the time, were attending to another critical patient in the ICU and by the time the second round of breakfast came, he slipped out of the ICU, opened the fire exit, and jumped off the sixth floor staircase and fell on the roof of the patient attenders’ waiting area. He died on the spot at 8.15 a.m.,” the statement said.
Autopsy performed
“Immediately, the police were intimated and necessary steps were taken and the body was shifted after disinfection with proper precautions to the mortuary where an autopsy was done. The body was handed over to the relatives of the patient as per protocol for the final rites,” the statement said.
DCP (South) Rohini Katoch said that the patient died after he jumped from the sixth floor of the Trauma Care Centre and crashed on a sheet on the first floor.
“Our staff do not have access to the building and our men have been stationed about 500 metres away from the block. We have asked the hospital to submit a detailed report about the incident and based on that, the investigation will be carried out,” she said. “The V.V. Puram police have taken up a case and are awaiting detailed report from the hospital,” Ms. Rohini added.
(Those in distress or those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani helpline at 104 for help.)