Bhubaneshwar: A patient of alcoholism and depression jumped to his death in the wee hours of Sunday from the sixth floor of AIIMS Bhubaneshwar. The 32-year-old, identified as Satyajit Mohanty of Jakara in Khurda district, was undergoing treatment in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) since January 17.

While the family members of the deceased raised questions on the security arrangements for patients in the premier health care facility, it was still unclear as to what actually led to the incident. On the other hand, the hospital authorities told MyNation that besides having deployed security guards round-the-clock, ICU patients were kept under strict supervision of doctors and nurses.

It was suspected that Mohanty, reluctant to stay in the hospital anymore, had jumped from a window of the ICU which was already broken. According to the hospital, Mohanty’s mental state was unstable and was pleading to his family to take him back home.

Family members, though told MyNation that excessive drinking was the reason behind Mohanty’s admission to the hospital. He had been initially taken to a Khurda hospital from where on January 17 he was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar owing to his deteriorating condition.

AIIMS medical superintendent (MS) Dr SN Mohanty said that it was a case of organophosphorus (OP) poisoning when he was brought to the hospital. He also mentioned that his family, who was present with him just before the incident, thought that he was going to the washroom, while he actually jumped off the window.

“He tried to poison himself but he was rescued, then again he went for suicide. The ultimate intention of the patient was to commit suicide. Everything will be clear after the post-mortem. The report will reveal everything,” said Dr Mohanty.

However, this is not the first incident of its kind to have occurred at the premier institute. In April 2017, one Subas Jena of Dhenkanal had died after falling off from the orthopaedics department on the same sixth floor. Dr Mohanty mentioned that the previous case was also of OP poisoning in which the patient reached a suicidal stage and attempted it repeatedly.

Dr Mohanty also apprised MyNation iof the security protocol put in place after the 2017 incident. “We have taken adequate measures also. We're going for an enquiry and we will see what more can be done but as such all adequate measures have been taken.”