Hyderabad: Accusations by patients or their attendants and counter charges by hospital authorities have become commonplace. Such incidents are reported every other day, including some pertaining to physical assaults
A similar incident has been reported at Chevella, albeit of an attendant, whose pet cat died while undergoing treatment at the veterinary hospital on Tuesday. The issue went to the Chevella police station, where both parties traded charges against each other.
She blamed the hospital for the death of her four-month-old cat ‘Rosy’, while the hospital staff complained against her ‘violent’ behaviour.
According to police, the complainant Farida Begum took Rosy to the veterinary hospital as the cat was not eating properly. However, after returning from the hospital, the cat’s condition deteriorated and a few hours later it died at her residence.
She lodged a complaint at the Chevella police station alleging negligence by the hospital staff as the cat was only down with mild fever.
In the meantime, the hospital staff filed a counter complaint alleging that Farida’s behaviour was ‘very violent’.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Farida said, “I adopted her when she was 15 days old. We nurtured her for four months, and then one day we took her to the hospital and lost her. It all happened because of the hospital staff. When my son took her to the hospital, the attendant just gave her an injection, without even checking the temperature.”
She said that the cat was vaccinated sometime back and she was advised to give it four drops of a tonic. She alleged that the attendant had given the entire content in the bottle all at once.
“It was a 15 ml bottle. He did not even consult a doctor and just gave it to Rosy,” Farida alleged.
“After she came back home, she was acting very weird and was very dull. We assumed that she must have been in pain as she wasn't even eating properly. Rosy was active when I sent her to the hospital, but things changed after she got back. Hours later, we lost her forever,” Farida said.
When Farida took Rosy to the hospital again, it was confirmed that she had died. In a fit of rage, she slapped the attendant. She later consulted a doctor, who told her that the cause of the cat’s death was tonic overdose.
A day after both parties lodged complaints with the police, Farida chose to withdraw her complaint on Wednesday.
Chevella inspector M. Bhoopal Sridhar told Deccan Chronicle, “We have sent the cat’s body for postmortem examination. It is only after the PME reports are out that we will be able to conclude what might have caused the cat’s death. We will punish those responsible for the cat’s death, once the report comes to us.”
