Denied bed under EWS category, patient dies 3 hrs after 'discharge'

New Delhi: The family of a woman who died on Tuesday has accused St Stephen's Hospital, a private hospital here, of medical negligence. The family has also filed a police complaint in the matter and has alleged that the hospital refused to give them a bed under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

While the family of the deceased has claimed that the hospital first asked them to pay around Rs 2,92,000 in for a bed, medicines and a test and then forced them to sign discharge papers, the hospital administration has rubbished these allegations, claiming the patient's family discharged their kin of their own accord.

Prabhaskar Singh's 45-year-old sister Rajmati was admitted to the hospital on August 7 and "discharged" on August 10, within three hours of which she succumbed to her illness, which is yet to be diagnosed. She was admitted with symptoms of headache and soon put on a ventilator.

However, when Singh approached lawyer Ashok Aggarwal, he learned that his sister was entitled to a bed under the EWS category and went ahead to file a complaint. Singh, a farmer from Uttar Pradesh said he somehow gathered around Rs 1.2 lakh but when he could not

pay the rest, they were asked to take her to another hospital and later forced to sign discharge papers.

"I went to G.B Pant, RML and Safdarjung Hospital, where I was told that there are no non-covid beds available," he said.

However, the hospital's PRO said, "Why would a hospital take out the ventilator of a patient? The family took the patient on its own, we have the signed signature papers."

He added, "Dr Mon Gupta who was handling the case assured the family that the moment they have a bed vacancy, they will be immediately informed, but it seemed like he didn't want to wait and asked us to release his sister."

But Singh's lawyer claimed the hospital has "55 beds vacant out of the 60 beds reserved for EWS category. The hospital always has more than 50 beds available under the EWS category. This is pure negligence on the behalf of St. Stephen's hospital."

Prabhaskar meanwhile said he cannot do anything about the loss of his sister but will move court if the police do not register an FIR in the matter.