On TB Day, patient jumps to death

On Tuesday,around 3:45 am,Shrunghare took off her oxygen mask,walked to the stairways and jumped from a window. At the time of the incident,her mother was sleeping next to her bed. The guard on duty spotted her and rushed her to doctors. She died of head injuries.

RAK Marg police said that they have registered a case of accidental death. “The woman’s mother told us that her daughter was very depressed because of her illness. She also mentioned that she was fed up having to lead the life of a sick person. Based on the mother’s statement,we registered a suicide case and are investigating further,” police said.

Doctors treating her said financing her treatment may also have been an issue that made her take the extreme step. “She was on second line treatment for multi-drug resistant TB and not drugs that are available for free. She spent Rs 3,000-5,000 per month to get it from outside,” said Dr Amardeep Mahendrakar at the hospital.

Shrunghare was admitted to ward number 6 on the second floor last November. She was a defaulter (earlier,on Directly Observed Tuberculosis Short course (DOTS) treatment,she had dropped the course midway). “She was once discharged against medical advice but was readmitted last November. Looking at her records,she had 100 per cent adherence to medication since she was admitted and was recovering,” said Dr Anil Patel,medical superintendent of the hospital.

Shrunghare,who worked at a laundry,was the only earning member of her family. “She used to take medicines but not regularly. She worked to support herself and her mother despite being a patient. We tried hard to convince her to get admitted to a hospital but it was only after she suffered from breathlessness that paid heed,” said Sangeeta Mishra,Shrunghare’s sister,and added,“She took medicines from a DOTS centre in Kandivali before admission.”

“She was unhappy with life and many times said she wanted to die. For the last 15 days,she had severe chest pain and had breathing problems,” said Mishra.

Meanwhile,the hospital building,currently undergoing renovation,has installed grills at all the windows in the wards. But the windows at the landing of the stairways do not have bars. “Net or grills were never there in those windows at the stairs. We never thought it will help. But it will now be part of the new plan,” said Dr Patel.

Last December,a 32-year-old TB patient had jumped to death from the second floor of the old hospital building of King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital.