Girl held hostage by hospital
Wed, October 29 2008
“Salma has been discharged, although an inquiry into the case is still underway,” said A.K. Bhatt, medical superintendent of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, where the patient was allegedly held captive.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh health authorities initiated a probe after the girl alleged that she was held at the hospital for a year for not paying her treatment bills.
“I will straightway head to my home in Varanasi, where our family owns a shop of earthen toys,” she said.
“It is quite shocking. Realising the gravity of the matter, we at once ordered an inquiry when we came to know about the girl’s allegations before a section of the local media,” director general I.S. Srivastava told IANS.
However, the entire treatment of Salma, who had already suffered three cardiac arrests before coming to the hospital, amounted to Rs.150,000, hospital employees said.
Salma, with blocked heart valves, was under the supervision of the head of the cardio-thoracic surgery department Nirmal Gupta. The hospital claims she was abandoned.
