Patient jumps to death from hospital

It was in late hours when the patient’s paternal aunt,who was attending on him,went out of his room for a while that Ramandeep suddenly jumped from the window of a private room on third floor. He died on the spot.

While the relatives of the deceased have accused the hospital authorities of “negligence”,the hospital has denied the charge while claiming that “it was the responsibility of patient’s relatives to take his care in a private room”.

Though no suicide note was recovered from the spot but the deceased’s relatives have attributed the drastic step to “mental instability” of Ramandeep,who was survived by a four-year-old child and a wife. “Following the accident,he had fallen mentally upset,which seems to be the reason behind his suicidal step,” Ramandeep’s paternal uncle Bhupinder Singh told the police.

However,Ramandeep’s relative Narinder Singh accused the hospital management of “negligence”. “When the hospital people were aware that Ramandeep was mentally upset,why did they not took his proper care and not even bothered to ensure his proper security as the window,from which he jumped down,was not even having a grill,” questioned he,while claiming that before leaving,Ramandeep’s aunt had asked the duty nurse to keep an eye on the patient but to no avail.

It was also alleged that the hospital authorities even refused to hand over deceased’s body till they got Rs 60,000 payment,which was besides Rs 6 lakh already charged by them since Ramandeep’s admission in the hospital.

Denying any “negligence” on their part,the hospital officials said,“To take care of patient in the private room,was the sole responsibility of his kin”.

Meanwhile,the police have initiated investigations and sent the body for postmortem examination.