Complaint against Patna hospital where COVID-19 patient was 'sexually assaulted'
A police complaint has been filed in connection with the alleged sexual assault of a 45-year-old woman COVID-19 patient at the Paras-HMRI hospital in Patna, Bihar. The daughter of the victim, who died Wednesday morning, filed the complaint against the hospital. The deceased's daughter has also demanded that the hospital should be shut down, claiming that her mother was "murdered."
Patient allegedly assaulted between Sunday-Monday night
The deceased was admitted to Paras-HMRI hospital on May 15 after she developed symptoms of COVID-19. The daughter claimed that her mother's health was good until she was sexually assaulted by three staffers inside the hospital ICU between 6 pm on May 16 and 11 am on May 17. The daughter claimed the hospital intubated the patient to prevent her from giving a statement.
'Patient was not maintaining proper saturation'
In a statement, PD Gupta from the hospital management dismissed the allegations. It said the patient became "restless" on May 16 evening and "was not maintaining proper saturation on high flow oxygen," Hindustan Times reported. "The doctor decided to put her on CPAP support. When she still could not maintain proper saturation, a group of clinicians decided to put her on mechanical invasive ventilation."
Inquiry conducted; allegations found untrue: Hospital
"The patient did not show signs of recovery and her vitals and other parameters kept deteriorating. This was explained to the next of kin on several occasions. Unfortunately, the patient lost her battle with COVID-19 on the morning of May 19," the statement said. The statement said that an internal inquiry was conducted and it was found that no sexual assault had taken place.
