The relatives of a 34-year old patient suffering from HIV who died on Friday morning got violent with a first-year post-graduate medical student Dr Navin Jha at the civic-run BYL Nair hospital in Mumbai. The patient was admitted to the hospital on December 25, 2019, due to abdominal pain and fever but on Friday her condition got worse and was declared dead when her heart stopped beating and she could not be revived. As per earlier medical investigations, the patient was also suffering from renal failure.
In his statement, Dr Jha mentioned that the relatives were informed about the patient's health status on a regular basis and they were aware of the problems associated with her health. Yet, when he informed them about her death they began "abusing and shoving me and one of them even slapped me," said the doctor.
As per senior police inspector at Agripada police station Savalaram Agawane, the family alleged that the patient was not given proper treatment. Earlier too, three resident doctors were attacked by a mob of relatives of a deceased patient. The mob allegedly also attacked the security guards and vandalised property at the hospital in a fit of rage. This despite them being well aware that the patient was critically ill at the age of 50 and had dim chances of survival.
"We will not tolerate any allegations of medical negligence on our part. Any third party institution can do the post mortem and find out. We have ethics in place and this kind of behaviour by patients' relatives will also not be taken lightly. Earlier too, we have faced such instances with our residents and I sincerely hope laws are put in place to avoid this kind of situation in the future. In this case, DR Jha was right in his place when he kept the family in the loop at all times about the patient's condition. Yet, the relatives got furious and began abusing him when the patient was no more," said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean at BYL Nair hospital.
The police have filed a first information report in the case against one person but haven't made any arrests so far as the family is in the process of completing the last rites of the deceased
