Even as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and its supporters are at Warangal celebrating the party's 16th foundation day, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) issued notices to the Telangana Health Department over a complaint by the opposition Congress on deaths in government hospitals.
Representative image | Reuters
SHRC Secretary D. Subramanyam asked the government to submit its report on the complaint by August 3, failing which the Commission would take “such action as it deems proper.”
According to the Congress party, there have been over 3,000 deaths in various hospitals across the state since the TRS party took over the government on June 2, 2014. The party also demanded Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to the families who lost their member in hospital due to negligence, and the setting up of an expert committee to study and present a report on the “pathetic” conditions in government hospitals.
The new development came at a time when the laxity of government hospitals are widely reported in the media. Recently, an injured patient who went to the Gandhi Hospital, could not find a wheelchair, as he refused to pay bribe for the same. He returned to the hospital with his son's three wheeled tricycle to prove a point. After few days, a similar incident was reported again. The health department is accused of failing to take any action over these incidents.
The state BJP also hit out at the chief minister saying that he was busy fulfilling all his vows to the Gods but did not bother about giving basic amenities to the citizens of the state of Telangana.
In another incident, eight children died at a maternity hospital as the hospital did not have incubators. In another major government hospital, many patients died because of a power outage and a lack of a generator. There have been a number of deaths related to maternal cases. It is alleged that as many as 19 cesareans were performed at the Government Maternity Hospital, whereas only 12 were permitted in a day.
There were a series of maternal deaths, but the doctors claimed that this happened because most of the cases were emergency ones. No action has been taken against doctors who performed the surgery, and their identities are still kept confidential.
Terming the deaths a result of medical negligence, the opposition party asked the SHRC to direct the DGP to book the doctors and nurses concerned under relevant sections of the IPC. Another suggestion from the opposition party was to start a toll-free help line for patients in government hospitals and also give a docket number for all the callers for monitoring and feedback.
