Inquiry begins after two years

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 16

Finally after two and a half years of an unknown patient finding mention in news reports about dumping him at the mortuary of Government Medical College here, a senior police official has started investigations to find the persons behind the dastardly act. 

A senior police official, Amrit Brar, AIG (Crime), is camping in the city for the past two years and trying to get a clue about the instance. In her endeavour, she is meeting with many people including Rajinder Sharma, a member of a local youth organisation, and faculty members to confirm the facts of the case. 

Though the senior police official has been entrusted with the inquiry into a single case, which had occurred on September 10, 2014, the instances of denying treatment to patients who do not have any accompanying attendant and are not in a position to perform their normal bodily functions are numerous and have been frequently reported. 

On September 10, a few passersby had spotted a patient lying on the floor outside the mortuary.

Later, they brought the matter to the notice of the police and the hospital authorities. 

The patient was later shifted to the ward and the hospital authorities had claimed that it was a mistake, as another patient who had died in the same ward was to be transferred to the mortuary. The patient had later died. However, at the time, the authorities had claimed that the person who had shifted the wrong patient to the mortuary was not an employee of the college. The identity of the person who had shifted the patient to the mortuary is still a mystery as the officials concerned claim ignorance in the matter. 

A local RTI activist, Ravinder Sultanwind, said, “We have a record of at least two dozen patients who were thrown out of the hospital and denied treatment. The names and contacts of all such persons can easily be verified using records of the hospital.” AIG Brar confirmed that an inquiry was underway. She said the report of the inquiry would be submitted to the Director, Bureau of Investigation. She, however, refused to divulge details of the findings.