In an awful incident, a senior doctor at Agra’s Sarojini Naidu Medical College has been caught on tape allegedly telling his junior colleague, who refused to admit a TB patient with a bleeding stomach ulcer, that he could “kill the man, make it so difficult for him that he runs away on his own, but just admit him”.
The 18-year-old patient, Mukesh Prajapati, a resident of Khandari, Agra, tragically died shortly afterwards.
The telephonic conversation of the doctor with his junior colleague was recorded by Mukesh’s father Teekam Prajapati.
Teekam told that he took his son, who was suffering from TB, to the hospital at around 10 pm after he complained of a stomach-ache. Doctors at the medicine ward were not willing to listen to them.
He noticed the phone number of the head of the surgery department (Dr Shwetank Prakash) listed on the wall and called him up from Mukesh’s phone and made the head talk to his junior colleague who was standing with them. Mukesh was then admitted to the emergency ward, he added.
After Mukesh’s death, his family listened to the recording and was chocked by the exchange.
“Admit kar lo, blood likh do, medicine mein admit karo ya surgery mein; pata nahi kahan se kaun phone kar rahe hain; admit kar lo, maar daalo chahe; blood likh do, apne aap bhaag jayega (Make sure you admit him, either in the medicine or surgery department, kill him, prescribe him units of blood, he will run away on his own),” Prakash was heard instructing the junior doctor Rohit in the exchange.
As the telephone call was made late at night, it was impossible for the patient’s family to arrange blood for transfusion.
Dismayed with Mukesh’s death, his family lodged a police complaint at the MM Gate police station against senior doctor Shwetank and submitted a non-cognisable report (NCR) at the station on Saturday night.
On the other hand, Prakash, when asked about the audio clip, said that he has not said all that and the clip has been edited and doctored.
“The clip has been edited and doctored. I have not said all that. I instructed the junior doctors to provide immediate relief to the patient. He was a TB patient, not a surgery patient, but I asked the doctors to help him without caring about such things. This is an attempt to malign my image, but my fellow colleagues support me and I will continue with my service,” Praskash was quoted by Times of India as saying.
SP (city) Sushil Ghule said they have written a letter to the college authorities and will initiate action once they get a report from the medical board.
