Patna, Jan. 31: The Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC) has issued a notice to the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) over yesterday’s death of a 60-year-old college teacher who was allegedly left unattended by the authorities who insisted on completing admission formalities before starting treatment.
The commission said it was taking suo motu cognisance of the report “Death beats wait for cure”, published in The Telegraph on Tuesday.
“The incident reported in The Telegraph prima facie is a case of human rights violation. As per the news item, the person concerned, Ram Iqbal Tiwari of Ashiana Nagar, Patna, who had a massive heart attack, was allegedly left unattended at the hospital on the pretext of completion of registration formalities. The delay proved fatal as he succumbed to cardiac failure,” said Justice S.N. Jha, chairperson, BHRC.
The case will come up for hearing before the commission on February 17.
Tiwari, a teacher at a college in Kaimur, had complained of acute chest pain yesterday morning and had been rushed to IGIMS where, his relatives alleged, the officials were adamant that registration procedures be first completed before treatment.
Family members of Tiwari said crucial minutes were lost and doctors took over 30 minutes to check on him, by which time he had died. The doctors later insisted he was brought dead to the hospital, a claim strongly refuted by the relatives.
Justice Jha said the insistence on completion of the registration formalities reflected callous and insensitive attitude of the hospital administration and was also in violation of the norms laid down by the Supreme Court in such matters.
“Being a case of human rights violation in a premier government hospital which should function as a role model for clinics and hospitals, the commission is of the view that the incident warrants suo motu action,” he said.
The commission has asked the IGIMS director to submit a report on the incident within two weeks and has asked the institute to disclose, among other details, the names of the doctors/staff on duty at the relevant counters on that particular day. The BHRC has also instructed the principal secretary, health, to carry out an independent inquiry into the incident and submit a separate report to the panel. It has invited Tiwari’s family to assist the commission in the proceedings.
Amarjeet Sinha, principal secretary, health, could not be reached for comment in spite of repeated attempts.
IGIMS director Dr Arun Kumar said the institute would explain its side of the story in its reply to the commission. “I spoke to the employees of the hospital yesterday and today and enquired what had happened. They told me that there was no dearth of stretchers. Also, nobody at the registration counter would have told the attendants that admission process could be done only in half-an-hour as the printer was slow as the registration is done manually,” said Kumar.
