Nellore: Though 67 assistant professors and associate professors working in the government medical college in Nellore are attached to the adjacent government general hospital, the attendance was never crossed 20 mark most of the days in a month. The meagre presence came to light when joint collector A. Md. Imtiaz verified the biometric attendance during a probe into the death of a patient P. Subbarayudu, 45, of Kaluvoyee in Nellore district allegedly because of the delay on the part of the duty doctor to attend to him on June 16 this year.
As per a report of the hospital superintendent, Dr Radhakrishna Raju, the mobile number of the call duty doctor Sk Kalesha Saheb, Assistant Professor of Surgery, was not reachable when those on duty in the hospital tried to inform him about the seriousness of the case. Dr Khalesha reached the hospital around 7.45 pm but the patient had died by then. District collector R. Muthyala Raju ordered a probe into the incident after he came to know about the incident through media reports.
During the probe, the joint collector found tampering of the case sheet. The JC observed that the call duty doctor had made entries in the case sheet citing 5 pm though he reached the hospital after 7.30 pm. However the doctor defended himself saying that he was in touch with the duty surgeon, a senior resident, and giving instructions. Incidentally, the duty surgeon also vouched for Dr Khalesha’s version during the probe. Dr Khalesha in his statement to memo served by the hospital superintendent said it was a high risk case which could end up in ‘on table death’.
He said the duty surgeon had sent some of the investigation reports through WhatsApp and he reviewed them. He added that the patient died around 6.50 pm while being prepared for surgery by the duty surgeon. Meanwhile, even before the joint collector submitted his report to the collector, the AP Government Doctors Association local unit defended the medical officer and found fault with superintendent Radhakrishna Raju and chairman of hospital development society Chatla Narasimha Rao for highlighting the issue.
According to sources in the general hospital, the association had demanded the government suspend the superintendent for not ordering an internal enquiry. Stressing that they are working without adequate facilities and in adverse conditions, the association also hinted about launching massive protests if action was not initiated. Copies of the letter were sent to the Chief Minister and the department concerned too.
