Karnataka: Negligence kills wrestling hero?

Hubballi: The  death of 21- year- old wrestler, Santosh Hosamani has  shocked the region's sports fraternity as he had merely suffered a fracture in the thigh bone in a recent wrestling bout and had successfully undergone surgery at the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) here on Monday.

While doctors claimed he had suffered a heart attack due to fat embolism or lodging of fat in the blood stream, family and friends blamed his death on medical negligence following surgery.

Santosh was injured during a 95 kg free style wrestling bout at the Karnataka State Olympics held recently in the twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad. From the hamlet of Chikkamalligawad in Dharwad taluk, he had dreamed of winning a medal at the national wrestling competition in Rohtak, Haryana the week after the state Olympics. Still a  student, doing his final year B.Com,  he was training at the Bala Maruti Wrestling School in Dharwad to pursue his dream.

Going by his friends, he was shifted to KIMS from a private hospital in the hope that the government would bear the medical expenditure,  but no  sports official visited him in hospital, forcing his poor family to take a loan to pay  for his treatment.

"The officials of the Karnataka State Olympic Association did not bother  to arrange treatment for him and doctors too did not  give him the care he needed," alleged his brother, Vinay.

Several wrestlers , friends and family took out a  silent procession with Santosh's  body through the main thoroughfare of the city before taking it to his village for the last rites. District in-charge minister, Vinay Kulkarni, announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh for his family members.