Gopal Kamila (picture left) could finally slip into painless sleep on Friday afternoon, after lying unattended at SSKM Hospital for 10 days.

Following a report in Friday’s Metro on the trauma of the 18-year-old, who lost both his legs while trying to save a friend, the authorities shifted Gopal from the general surgery ward to the orthopaedic ward and began treatment.

“He is on painkillers and antibiotics. His wounds have been covered with a fresh bandage,” said a hospital official.

“The pain has subsided a lot and I slept well in the afternoon, for the first time since I was brought here on April 1,” said Gopal.

“Doctors came to see him twice today and prescribed injections and medicine,” smiled father Mahadeb, himself a patient of polio.

Not tormented by pain for the first time in 10 days, the youth from East Midnapore was struggling to come to terms with the fact that he would not be able to walk again.

“I will not be able to work again and will be a burden on the family,” he said.

Gopal worked as a driver and earned Rs 1,000 a month. He lost his legs on the railway tracks in Heria under Khejuri police station of East Midnapore on March 31. His legs had to be amputated at the Contai sub-divisional hospital, from where he was referred to SSKM Hospital.

On April 1, Gopal was admitted under an orthopaedic surgeon but was wheeled into the Curzon ward for general surgery patients, as no bed was available in the orthopaedic ward of the Woodburn block.

Till Thursday, no doctor had visited the youth, while a Group D employee was allegedly charging the family Rs 100-Rs 150 to dress his wounds every other day.

The Kamila family has complained to the hospital superintendent against the employee. “He has denied the charges but we have ordered an inquiry,” said an official.

The hospital authorities had said that no one could attend to Gopal as the postgraduate trainees were busy with their examinations.

The state human rights commission has ordered an inquiry into the incident. “I have asked the SSKM authorities to submit a report within two weeks,” said Justice (retired) Shyamal Sen, the chairman of the commission.

The hospital authorities refused comment on Gopal’s ordeal and why it took 10 days for the first steps towards basic patient care to be taken.