Covid patient commits suicide at DDU Hospital in Shimla

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 23

A 54-year-old woman from Chopal allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself in the gallery outside the Covid ward at Deen Dayal Upadhyay (Ripon) Hospital here around 12.05 am today.

The woman had tested positive for coronavirus on September 18 and was admitted to DDU Hospital. The incident has raised questions on the functioning of the hospital that how a patient in a ward where 20 to 25 other patients are also present could commit suicide in the presence of the hospital staff.

The son of the deceased said that his mother had been taking treatment for hypertension and frequent headaches at the IGMC for the past four years. He added that the DDU Hospital staff did not attend to her, she was not given medicines on time and was in mental tension.

Deputy Commissioner Amit Kashyap said that a magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the incident to ascertain the reason why the woman took the extreme step and whether there was negligence on the part of the hospital staff.

Patients, who were cured of Covid at the hospital, would also be interviewed to know the conditions prevailing in the ward so that remedial steps could be taken to avoid such a mishap in future, he added.

An inquest has been instituted under Section 174 of the CrPC into the suicide case. The body had been sent for the postmortem, said Shimla SP Mohit Chawla.

A few days ago, a patient, who had tested negative for Covid, was sent to quarantine at Mashobra and kept with coronavirus patients due to alleged negligence on the part of the IGMC staff. The confusion occurred as there were two persons with the same names and while the person with the negative report was sent to quarantine, the Covid patient was left out. Though the names of both patients in the age group of 25-26 years were same, their Specimen Referral Form (SRF) ID numbers were different, which the officials did not notice.

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