Jitendra Tiwari. Sagar53 minutes ago
Patient’s body was found in the storeroom
The investigation into the case of a four-day-old body being found in the storeroom of Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) in Sagar has been completed. Based on its report, the cleaning supervisor of the outsourced company has been suspended.
A recommendation has been made to stop one increment of the ward in-charge, while the matter has been almost settled by issuing a warning to the nursing staff.
Even after the investigation report, the biggest question remains unanswered. Why did no one search for patient Mangal Adivasi, whose disappearance from the ward for four days was known to the hospital doctors and staff? Doctors continued to take rounds of the ward daily and only wrote in the file – ‘patient not found on the bed’.
But no attempt was made to find the patient, nor were the relatives informed, nor was the police notified. When the body was found four days later in the storeroom of the same ward, the entire incident brought the hospital’s negligence to light.
Action on cleanliness, but silence on the biggest negligence
BMC management formed a three-member inquiry committee and investigated the entire matter. In the investigation, based on the lack of regular cleaning of the storeroom and negligence in supervision, cleaning supervisor Rizwan Mansoori was suspended.
Ward in-charge Dr. Yadavendra Singh’s salary increment was recommended to be stopped and the nursing staff was warned. But the inquiry report did not determine anywhere how the patient admitted to the ward remained missing from his bed for four days and whose responsibility it was to search for him. This is the question on which the investigation appears almost silent.
When the father returned in the morning, the bed was found empty
Mangal Adivasi (37), a resident of Andela, was admitted to Ward No. 14 of the Orthopaedic Department of BMC after being injured in a road accident on July 11. On the evening of July 16, his father, Dashrath Adivasi, went back to the village.
The next morning, when he returned to the hospital, his son’s bed was found empty. When the family members asked the ward staff, they were told that the patient had left without informing anyone. The father searched the hospital premises, relatives’ and acquaintances’ places, but Mangal was nowhere to be found.
Finally, on July 19, he reached Gopalganj police station and filed a missing person report. It is surprising that neither the police were informed nor any attempt was made to contact the family members from the hospital where the patient was admitted.
Mangal was undergoing treatment at Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) in Sagar
Doctors came for rounds daily, didn’t bother to look for the patient
During the investigation, it was revealed that while the patient was missing, doctors came to take rounds of the ward daily. When Mangal was not found on his bed, the doctors simply wrote on his case sheet, “Patient not found on bed.”
After this, no one searched in the ward, nor inquired in other departments, nor tried to find out whether the admitted patient had left the hospital or was present somewhere else. Questions are also being raised about the hospital’s system because the responsibility of monitoring an admitted patient is not only that of the family members but also of the hospital administration and ward staff.
Family member’s mobile number was on the admission slip, yet no call was made
At the time of admission to BMC, the patient’s admission slip records the family member’s mobile number. In such a situation, if a patient is found missing from the ward, the family should be contacted first. But this did not happen in this case.
If the hospital staff had called the family on the very first day, it would have become clear that the patient was not with them. After this, an immediate search could have been started. It is believed that if this had happened, perhaps the body would not have remained in the storeroom for four days.
Employees trying to look into the store room after a foul smell was detected
After four days, a foul smell came, then the storeroom was opened
On July 20, other patients admitted to the ward continuously felt a foul smell. Upon receiving a complaint, the staff reached the storeroom. The door was locked from the inside. Peeking through the window, they saw a dead body inside. Upon receiving information, the police arrived at the scene and had the door opened.
The scene inside was shocking. A black cloth was tied over the deceased’s face. A rope was tied to an IV stand kept in the storeroom, the other end of which was around the deceased’s neck. Bloodstains were also found nearby.
The police prepared an inquest report and sent the body for post-mortem. Currently, preliminary investigation suggests suicide, although the final situation will only become clear after the post-mortem report is received.
Mangal’s body found in the store of Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) of Sagar
The store room remained closed for 4 days, no one even peeked inside
In this entire incident, many questions are also arising regarding the store room. If that room was unused, why was it not locked? If it was used, why was it not cleaned and monitored daily? The body lay there for four days and no employee even got to know about it.
The investigation committee also admitted that the store room was not regularly cleaned and there was negligence in monitoring. But the question also is whether the responsibility of the store room located inside the ward was only that of the cleaning supervisor or also of the ward in-charge and other responsible officers.
Action was taken in the investigation, but was the responsibility fully determined?
The management took action by suspending the cleaning supervisor, recommending to stop the ward in-charge’s increment, and issuing a warning to the nursing staff. However, the accountability of the doctors who did not find the patient on the bed for four consecutive days and still did not search for him was not determined.
This is why questions are being raised about the investigation report. People associated with the hospital say that if there has been a serious lapse in patient monitoring, then the scope of determining responsibility should not be limited only to the cleaning system.
Following the incident, BMC management has issued instructions to change the hospital’s system. All unused rooms and store rooms will be locked. Used rooms will be cleaned daily and monitored. Instructions have also been given that if any admitted patient is not found on their bed, their family will be contacted immediately and the management will be informed.
Police personnel present in the ward after the incident came to light.
PM report did not give an opinion
BMC Superintendent Dr. Rajesh Jain said that based on the negligence revealed in the investigation, the sanitation supervisor has been suspended. Instructions have been given to stop the increment of the ward in-charge, and the staff has been instructed to prevent such incidents in the future.
Gopalganj Police Station In-charge Ghanshyam Sharma said that the post-mortem report has been received in the patient’s death case. However, the report does not provide any opinion regarding the cause of death. Viscera and other tests are being conducted. Further action will be taken in the matter based on the investigation.
