india

Updated: Sep 02, 2014 08:40 IST

Doctors in a hospital in Aligarh declared a patient, who was admitted there for treatment, as dead. When the police arrived three days later, the patient was lying in the mortuary alive.

A Khair police station constable got an unknown patient admitted to Malkhan Singh district hospital in Aligarh on August 20. The patient was mentally-challenged and his legs were fractured in an accident. He was not in a position to speak as well.

On August 29, the doctors declared him dead and the next day sent a memo to the Bannadevi police station informing about his death. The body was sent to the hospital mortuary and the doors were closed. The Bannadevi police station informed the Khair police station about the death of the patient.

The Khair police waited for 72 hours for the man to be identified. On Monday, when the police went to the mortuary to check up on the 'dead' body, the man was lying on the mortuary floor, without food or water for days.

The hospital administration, however, was trying to hush up the matter, and refused to reveal the name of the doctor who had declared the patient dead. Chief medical superintendent RD Khare told HT that the memo was issued for another unknown patient who had died earlier.

"We could not ascertain which doctor made the mistake but the negligence will not be overlooked. The senior doctors will conduct an inquiry and the guilty will be punished," he said.