A 45-year-old man from Ariyalur district in Tamil Nadu was allegedly refused treatment in three hospitals in Kerala. His son claims that his father was turned away because he is from Tamil Nadu and was asked to seek treatment in his home state.
Rajendran, who had moved to Kerala 11 days ago to work as a daily wage worker, was injured after he had a dispute with a colleague over money.
“My father was first taken to a government hospital in Kuttipuram and then later to Thrissur and Kozhikode government hospitals. They asked him where is he from and he replied, Tamil Nadu. They would not even allow him to enter the hospital. Kozhikode government hospital asked him to pay Rs 70,000 for the treatment. It is a government hospital, the treatment should be free,” says Raghavendra, Rajendran’s son.
“My father is the sole breadwinner of the family and he left for Kerala to earn about Rs 600-700 daily, working as a daily wage worker,” says Raghavendra.
After all the hospitals allegedly refused treatment, Rajendran was brought to the Coimbatore Medical College on Sunday. “Doctors told us that the wound has become infectious and his leg might be removed. If the hospitals in Kerala would have at least done first-aid for him, the condition of his leg would not be so bad,” says Raghavendra.
However, when TNM contacted the Resident Medical Officer of Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital, Dr Soundarvel he said that there is no infection until now.
“He is undergoing surgery for the last two hours. He had a vascular injury sustained from the fracture on his left leg. We will have to check if there is any vascular infection that has formed, if there is no problem then he will not lose his limb.”
The injury is about one-and-half days old, he said. “He came at 11:45am on Sunday morning. Everything was done in a proper way. Antibiotics and tetanus was given, we hope there will not be any infection,” said Soundarvel.
Asked if first aid was provided to him by hospitals in Kerala would it have made any difference Dr Soundarvel said, “Blood loss would have been confined. When he arrived yesterday, he had left foot injury which included injury on heel, cutting of tendons, blood cell, fracture on sole bones.”
A case has been filed at Kuttipuram police station and the police is investigating the case. No arrests have been made so far in the case.
In a similar case in Kerala in August, a migrant labourer, who was injured in a road accident in Kollam, died after he was allegedly denied treatment. Medicity Hospital, where he was taken after the accident, allegedly denied him treatment claiming he was an unidentified patient and was not accompanied by anyone.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had ordered a probe into the issue.