The Hindu : Karnataka News : Road blocked in protest against ‘negligence’ of doctors in Manipal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka

Road blocked in protest against ‘negligence’ of doctors in Manipal

Staff Correspondent

IN PROTEST: People blocking the road in front of Manipal University in Manipal on Tuesday.

Manipal: Angry protestors blocked the road in front of the Manipal University for nearly two hours here on Tuesday to protest against what they termed “negligence of doctors” at the Kasturba Hospital leading to the death of John Sebastian Jathana on Monday. Jathana was an electrician at the Kasturba Medical College.

MLA K. Raghupati Bhat, who was leading the protest, told presspersons that the demands of the protestors were that the Medical Superintendent of Kasturba Hospital D.P. Saraswat should be suspended. Immediate action should be taken against another surgeon Chakravati. The protestors also demanded that patients should be treated by the doctors/surgeons of their choice.

He said the brother of Manipal University president T. Ramdas Pai, T. Ashok Pai, and the Pro-Chancellor of Manipal University H.S. Ballal had met the protestors. They had agreed to the condition of the protestors that patients should be treated by the doctors/surgeons of the patient’s choice.

They had agreed to investigate the first two demands of the protestors. In case the demands of the protestors were not met by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the protestors would meet at the same spot and decide the future course of action, Mr. Raghupati Bhat said.

The protestors made it clear that if their demands were not by the Manipal University, they would give a call for “Manipal Bandh” on Thursday.

Charge

John Sebastian Jathana’s brother Gladson Jathana told presspersons here on Monday that the Kasturba Hospital did not immediately provide a surgeon of their family’s choice to treat his brother John (who had been severely injured in a collision between two motorcycles in Manipal on Sunday) leading to wastage of valuable time.

The treatment given to his brother left a lot to be desired, he claimed.

Best of care

The Kasturba Hospital, in a press release on Monday, stated that John Sebastian Jathana was put under the treatment of renowned neurosurgeon. The patient was provided with the required attention and necessary medicines. A CT Scan of the patient was taken and the patient was shifted to ICU where he was put on ventilator and appropriate medication. The best of medical care was given to him in time. But the magnitude of head injury was so severe that the patient died.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka