Patient Lying In Medical College Veranda Gets Bed After Roof Collapse In Odisha’s M’Bhanj

Baripada: In a freak mishap, a patient sleeping on the veranda of the Medicine ward of Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College Hospital here sustained grievous injuries after a shred of roof collapsed on his head Sunday morning. Earlier, the patient was denied a bed and allowed to sleep on the floor along with others.

The patient, identified as Chakradhar Singh of Poda Astia village, was suffering from high fever since Saturday and did not protest much after the duty doctor advised him to sleep on the floor of the veranda of the medical college hospital on the pretext of shortage of beds.

Chakradhar was being treated along with many other patients on the veranda when a chunk of roof fell on his head around 9.30 am on Sunday leading to profuse bleeding.

“The incident has awakened the hospital staff who realised the inhuman treatment meted out to the patient and allotted him a bed afterwards. His fever continues and he has stopped talking after the roof collapse,” said Mamina Singh, Chakradhar’s daughter-in-law.

The medical staff put stitches on Chakradhar’s skalp and allotted a bed (No. M10) after the injury, said Chakradhar’s wife Sarathi Singh.

Several people, in vain, have complained to the authorities about the shortage of beds, medicines and space for critical-care patients in the medical college hospital.