Bokaro, Nov. 21: At 6 pm on Sunday, Vinod Kujur (31) was still alive and the doctor ruled that his ailment was not serious.

Indeed the doctor allegedly declared that Kujur would get well in a day or two. An hour after the doctors uttered the reassuring words, the young man actually collapsed and was declared to have died due to cardiac failure.

A violent mob ransacked a part of the Bokaro General Hospital yesterday morning and assaulted a doctor and a joint director (technical), before the police brought the situation under control.

Allegations of negligence have been dogging the hospital. A few days ago, the wife of a Bokaro Steel employee had died, and though no formal complaint was lodged, the woman’s family has accused the hospital of negligence.

Kujur, son of Bokaro Steel employee Sylvester Kujur, was admitted to the hospital on Friday with high fever. Blood tests were carried out and paracetamol administered to him in a bid to bring down the body temperature, says an FIR lodged with the police by the deceased’s father and elder brother. But even after the treatment failed to improve the patient’s condition, they alleged, the doctors did not bother to respond seriously.

Alleging negligence, they sought police action against the hospital staff concerned. BSL spokesmen, however, refused to comment. The body was sent for post-mortem.

The family of the deceased alleged that no senior doctor ever turned up to look at the patient, even after his condition started worsening on Saturday evening. The next morning, the patient’s mother pleaded with the nursing staff to send for a senior doctor after his speech began to falter and he found it difficult to breathe. Dr S.R. Chakravarty, the FIR alleged, turned up more than twelve hours later, at 6 pm, and declared that the problem was not serious and that the patient would recover in a matter of days. An hour later, Kujur collapsed.