PUNE, July 23: A destitute man, who was admitted to the state-run Sassoon General Hospital here for treatment after a bus ran over his legs, was later taken out of the medical facility by a doctor and his colleague and abandoned several kilometres away on a road, a social worker has alleged.
Based on the complaint filed by the members of a social organisation, the Pune police have registered a case against the doctor under section 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), he said.
Talking to PTI, Ritesh Gaikwad, a member of the organisation, said that they work for people who are destitute and live on the streets.
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“We generally take such patients to the Sassoon General Hospital for treatment in case of any emergency. But we recently came to know that destitute patients are abandoned by the hospital authorities,” he said.
“We then decided to lay a trap and kept a watch around the hospital during night and I acted as an autorickshaw driver,” Gaikwad said.
In the wee hours of July 22, while he was outside the gate with an autorickshaw, a doctor from the Sassoon hospital approached and told him that they wanted to take a patient outside.
“I readily agreed and offered a ride. While the patient, who had no legs, was in my vehicle, both the doctors on bike asked me to follow them,” Gaikwad said.
He said he followed the doctors till the mental hospital in Yerwada, where they abandoned him under a banyan tree and left.
“I then called up the police control room as well as 108 ambulance service and re-admitted the patient to the Sassoon Hospital, who is currently undergoing treatment at ward number 12,” the social worker said.
He added that after this incident, they approached the dean of the hospital and sought clarification on the incident.
“We were told that the doctors have been suspended by the hospital authorities,” he said.
Meanwhile, another member of the organisation, Dadarao Gaikwad, filed a complaint with Yerawada police station against the doctor and his colleague under section 125 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of BNS.
Sassoon Hospital’s dean, Dr Eknath Pawar, said an inquiry has been initiated into the incident and the doctors in the case have been suspended.
He said the patient’s name is Nilesh, who is from Madhya Pradesh, and he was rushed to the hospital on June 16 after he was run over by a bus.
“He was undergoing treatment at the orthopaedic department. He underwent a surgery on June 27. Two days back, I was told that the patient had gone absconding from the hospital,” he said.
Dr Pawar said that when he was admitted to the hospital, he was insisting on going back home.
Asked about allegations of patients being abandoned, he said that if such an incident has taken place, appropriate action will be taken against those responsible.
Asked how the patient who has no legs could travel to Yerwada, he said that an inquiry has been initiated. (PTI)
