Bhubaneswar: The toll in Hi-Tech Hospital, Bhubaneswar, AC Compressor explosion rose to three on Saturday following the death of the victim, who claimed to be Dilip Samantaray after being taken off ventilator, leading to an identity ‘mix-up’.
He died around 3-3.30 am, hospital sources said.
The case pertains to a fire mishap on December 29 evening in which Dilip Samantaray along with Simanchal Biswal, Sritam Sahu and Jyoti Ranjan Mallik, of Jagannath Refrigeration agency, were critically injured while repairing the AC compressor kept on the roof of the private medical college-cum-hospital here. The following day, one among them succumbed and the hospital authorities identified him as Dilip Samantaray, a native of Harirajpur in Jatni. Unable to bear the shock of her husband’s death, Soumyashri Jena reportedly died by suicide at her parent’s house on December 31, last year.
However, four days after being declared dead and cremated by his family members, the man was found alive as the injured initially identified as Jyotiranjan Mallik, regained consciousness on the ventilator and identified himself as Dilip.
Also Read: Twist In Hi-Tech Hospital Explosion Case: Patient Declared Dead On Dec 30 Found ‘Alive’
One more victim of the mishap, identified as Sritam Sahu (23) of Chainpur village in Delang area of Puri district, had succumbed to burns on January 2.
Speaking to the media, Hi-Tech Hospital CEO Dr Smita Pandhi said that the four person injured in the explosion were staff of an outsource agency, which had identified them during admission to the hospital and accordingly the records were maintained.
The hospital also blamed the family for the mistaken identity and offered to conduct a DNA test. Jyotiranjan Mallik’s family, which was shattered by the revelation, stressed that it is difficulty to identify the burn-injured faces.
While police, which is probing the case, had earlier said that there has been no allegation of medical negligence so far, the BJP asked the state government to initiate criminal proceedings against the hospital authorities for the goof-up and announce a compensation of Rs 1 crore for the aggrieved families. Congress leader Nishikant Mishra also called for a high-level inquiry into the incident and demanded clarity on how a living person was mistakenly declared dead and subsequently cremated.
Meanwhile, Dilip’s mother accused the hospital of a cover-up. “They killed my son. I rushed to the hospital after hearing that my son was alive. He was stable till 1 am and also spoke to me. Around 2 am, they said his condition has deteriorated and an hour later declared that he is no more,” she told the media.
