Medical negligence claims life of Dalit scholar in Telangana; police refuses to take cognisance

Students of University of Hyderabad have been demanding a probe and the registration of a medical negligence case against Citizens Speciality Hospital in Hyderabad for the death of Dalit scholar Surya Pratap Bharati. However, the Chandanagar police station has so far refused the register a FIR. Bharati is a first generation scholar from a scheduled caste community in Uttar Pradesh.

On August 17, 30-year-old Bharati suffered from an acute ischemic stroke and was rushed to Citizens Speciality Hospital based on reference by the University’s health centre. Ischemic stroke is the most common stroke and it occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked. As the brain depends on arteries to bring fresh blood from the heart and lungs, when arteries become blocked there can be serious brain damage.

“When we took him to the hospital, he retained mild cognitive abilities. He could speak, recognise people and retained some of his motor functions even though the left side of this body became paralysed,” said Faizan, a HCU student and Bharati’s friend.

On reaching the hospital, they were informed that Surya would require a surgery immediately after running the diagnosis and required tests. “As requested by the hospital, we made all the arrangements,” said Ramesh, another student who had gone to the hospital. (Name has been changed to protect identity)

Citizens Hospital tested Bharati for COVID-19 using the Rapid Antigen Test and he tested negative. “However, the hospital refused to conduct the surgery without conducting the RT-PCR test. So, for 24 hours, Surya was kept in an isolation ward and we were not informed about his condition,” insisted Faizan.

The next day, on August 18, a RT-PCR test was conducted and the result came positive on August 19. Citizens Hospital then denied him treatment based on this test result. They said that he had to be moved to another hospital.

All the students of HCU are a part of an insurance scheme, which gives them coverage of up to ₹1.5 lakh. Being HCU, they are also given a 40% reduction in the total bill amount.

Initially, the hospital gave them a bill of ₹86,000, of which the students only had to pay ₹57,000. However, the hospital refused to acknowledge Surya as a student of the University. This is despite his friends showing the hospital his ID card and other details. As a result, the hospital demanded full payment and refused to acknowledge the University’s insurance scheme as well.

“As we were attempting to reduce the bill amount, a friend of ours slipped into the ward, only to find Surya unmonitored and convulsing,” explained Ramesh. His friends then immediately informed the doctors, who put him on ventilator support.

In the ensuing two hours that he was on a ventilator, the hospital increased the bill to ₹1.57 lakh. If he had been considered a student, he would have had to pay ₹1.12 lakh. After a lot of arguments with the students, the Citizens Hospital agreed to let Surya be transferred to another hospital on the payment of ₹1.12 lakh.

“We lost precious time at Citizens Hospital. He was kept there for almost 48 hours. There is a golden hour for stroke patients, and he had definitely crossed that,” said Faizan.

Surya was then transferred to Continental Hospital at Nanakramguda. “When we arrived here, the doctors informed us that there were only slim chances for Surya’s survival. As we were sure of the RT-PCR Covid Test done by Citizen Hospital, we requested Continental Hospital not to conduct the test,” added Faizan.

While he was at Continental Hospital, Surya developed edema and multiple organ failures. Edema is a condition causing swelling of your body as a result of fluid in your body's tissues. At 9.30 am on August 20, Surya was declared brain dead and he died on August 21.

However, the RT-PCR tests conducted at Continental Hospital was negative. A third RT-PCR test was done to re-affirm the COVID-19 negative result. It also came back as negative. “To confirm that there was no doubt, we requested the hospital to do an antibody test, in which it was found that he had no reactive antibodies in his blood. This means that he hadn’t contracted the virus,” added Faizan.

HCU’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Anupama Rao said Surya was found unconscious in the hostel. He was brought to the medical room for examination and then immediately taken to Citizen’s Hospital. “I was in touch with the neuro-physician there. When he reached, the doctors said they have to follow Covid-19 procedures. On the second day, the doctor seemed positive about his condition. We did hear about the insurance issues. We tried to help. I can’t comment on any other aspect of the case,” underscored Rao.

“We have been running around to register the FIR. We have gone at least twice daily to the police station from August 21. Today also, the police sent us back. We ran an online campaign to request mass emails to be sent to the Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile. He was the VC even during the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula,” said Abhishek Nandan, HCU Students Union President.

Sub-inspector Ahmad Pasha of Chandanagar police station said they were waiting for a legal opinion in this case. “We are waiting to see if we can register the FIR. We have asked Citizens Hospital for details regarding the case. A decision on this will be taken tomorrow,” said Pasha. He did not have an answer when asked about the inordinate delay in registering the FIR.

Calls to HCU Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile and administrative staff of Citizens Hospital went unanswered. This article will be updated as and when they respond.

This is not the first case of medical negligence related to Dalit scholars at HCU. Ph.D scholar Rohith Vemula had died by suicide on January 17, 2017, after leaving behind a letter talking of unfinished dreams and how he felt his “birth was his fatal accident”. He was targeted by Akhil Bharatatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and his fellowship of Rs 25,000 was suspended for raising “issues under the banner of the Ambedkar Students Association”.