The police said, around 8.30 am, Chikkarangaiah (47), a private firm employee from Peenya II Stage landed at the hospital complaining of chest pain. Since the cardiologist was not available, the patient was referred to Jayadeva. The patient died on way to the hospital.
Relatives of the deceased returned with the body and got into an argument. Mohan, one of their relatives, told Deccan Herald, "Chikarangaiah was the bread winner of the family.
He was married and his two children are studying. Initially, the ESI doctors were reluctant to treat or refer the patient to another hospital but after persisting they obliged. If they had some responsibility and alerted us, Chikarangaiah would have survived.”
A fuming Mohan said, “It’s pathetic. We stood in the queue with the patient for more than an hour and the duty doctors came late. They brushed the patient’s problem aside and shouted at us saying, ‘Everyday, we get hundreds of patients, don’t bother us, take him away.” While we were crossing Richmond Circle, Chikkarangaiah breathed his last.
We were forced to return to ESI as they didn’t entertain us at Jayadeva.”
“Moreover, the ESI authorities threatened us saying, ‘If you complain, you will not get the body and it will be delayed by more than three days. If you keep silent we will make the procedures easy,” he added.
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