(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan yesterday apologised to the family of Tamil accident victim who died this week in the hospital after six hospitals turned him away.
Murugan, 37, a migrant worker from Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, met with an accident while riding a motorbike at Chathannoor in Kollam district on Sunday night and suffered a brain haemorrhage.
The police took him and his fellow rider Muthu, 24, to the KIMS Hospital, in Kollam city where doctors diagnosed him with a brain injury.
The hospital admitted Muthu and gave Murugan first aid and arranged an ambulance of a trauma care charity to take him to the Government Medical College in the state capital 53km away.
Doctors attended to him did so as there was no neurosurgeon and ventilator facility available there and he needed urgent surgery.
The emergency medical technician tried his best to maintain the blood pressure and heart pulse using the life-saving devices on the ambulance.
As his condition worsened, they took him to two other private hospitals, including a medical college, before reaching the state's biggest hospital in the capital city.
The prestigious government hospital kept him waiting inside the ambulance for three more hours before telling them that all its ventilators were engaged for the moment.
They then took him to a super speciality hospital in the city which also denied admission and had to take him to another teaching hospital in Kollam, driving all the way back, after getting confirmation, but the hospital refused to take him in saying his condition was worst.
After that, at 6am on Monday, they took him to the Government District Hospital where doctors confirmed that he was brought dead after spending eight hours in the ambulance.
Activists say the private hospitals left him to die as he had no money or someone else to foot his bills.
He was staying in a rented house and milking cows to make a living. He had no relatives here.
On Tuesday, when his wife and son reached the Government District Hospital where his body was, it also reportedly denied them a vehicle to take his body home and local politicians had to come to their rescue.
'It was a shame on the whole of our state, Vijayan told the State Legislative Assembly when the Congress party-led Opposition demanded adjournment of its regular business to discuss this and 420 fever death, alleging a total collapse of its healthcare system.
'The denial of treatment is cruel. I apologise to the family on behalf of the state and share their grief. There will be strict action against those responsible for this. It shouldn't have happened in a state that had made tremendous progress in health care.
He said an expert medical team would examine the reasons for the denial of treatment and the government would 'consider a new legislation or amend the existing one if necessary to check recurrence of such incidents.
The State Human Rights Commission had suo-moto registered a case against four hospitals, including the government medical college and the police have started probe.
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