Seventy-year-old bruised and injured Saidamma has been lying in the corridors at the back of the emergency section of the Osmania General Hospital since July 25. Till now, she has not even received first aid for her wounds.
The frail woman is a sorry sight. She has injured her right leg; the skin has completely peeled off. The flesh is visible, which is attracting flies, mosquitoes and big black ants. Too frail to walk, she can’t even move into a corner when it rains. She gets completely drenched and is constantly shivering.
What is most appalling is the hospital’s apathy. No one has bothered to give her basic first-aid, despite hundreds of doctors, patients, workers passing by the corridor every day.
Non-hospital staff, other patients and labourers doing painting and carpentry work on the hospital premises, complained to the hospital authorities but are scared to do anything else or even touch the elderly lady for fear of infection.
Khalid Khan, who is working on painting the hospital said, “I have been seeing her lying like this but when I mentioned it to the doctor, he said that as there was no relative along with her, they can’t admit her.”
Patient Varalakshmi, who comes to OGH every day for physiotherapy, brings bananas for Saidamma. She even helps her to eat them, but Saidamma is so weak that she can only eat half a banana.
Others get fruits like guava for her, but she does not have teeth on the lower jaw to bite them.
A doctor who is on internship from a private college, spoke to the hospital administration and also to the police on Saturday, but still no help or first aid was provided to Saidamma. Security guards of the hospital claim that they too complained to the resident medical officer, without any result.
On Monday, with the media zooming in on the site and questions being asked, the health inspector finally swung into action and called up Bharati Memorial Foundation in East Marredpally, a non-government organization, to take her away to the old age home.
When asked why first-aid was not given to the ailing woman, health inspector Praveen said, “There is no relative to get the patient admitted. We need an attendant along with every patient, which is the rule of the hospital.”
Does this mean that rules deny a person from getting first-aid treatment? There was no reply.
The fruits left by patients and their visitors are attracting monkeys, which steal them. Frightened by all the unaccustomed attention, Saidamma is now covering herself completely. When this reporter and photographer spoke with her, she explained haltingly that her son Nagesh and daughter Ratnamma had left her here.
The only address that she could mention was that she lived near the airport.
A senior officer of the health department said, “People come to the hospital in the guise of treatment and leave their old people here in the corridors because they don’t want to take care of them. This is one such case. We can’t do much for them, other than call up old age homes and transfer them there.”