<p class="title">Indian authorities have suspended two doctors and launched an investigation after a patient's severed leg was used as a pillow to prop up his head, a hospital official said Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Administrators at the government-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh state vowed "strict action" after images emerged showing the patient on a stretcher with the amputated limb being used as a headrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We have set up a four-member committee to find out who put the severed leg under the patient's head," said Sadhna Kaushik, principal of the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College and Hospital in Jhansi, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Strict action will be taken if our staff is found at fault."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two doctors have been suspended pending investigation, she added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The man, identified as 28-year-old Ghanshyam, was seriously injured in a bus accident.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His relatives told the local NDTV news network that hospital staff ignored their requests that Ghanshyam, who goes by one name, be given a pillow.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"When we reached the hospital, we saw his leg being used as a headrest," Janaki Prasad, a relative, told NDTV.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I repeatedly asked the doctors to intervene but they refused," Prasad added, saying Ghanshyam's relatives eventually bought a pillow from a local market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kaushik said the patient was given "immediate" medical attention and one of his relatives placed the leg under his head, the Press Trust of India reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The doctor looked for something to raise his head. The patient's attendant used the leg," she told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext">India's state-run hospitals are often ill-equipped, severely underfunded and stretched to breaking point. Just a handful of specialists are available to treat millions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Uttar Pradesh, which is home to 200 million people, is one of India's poorest states, and long waits are common for even minor treatments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medical negligence is not uncommon either.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last year, dozens of children died in a single week at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh that suffered oxygen shortages. And an unlicensed doctor was arrested last month for allegedly infecting at least 46 people with HIV by re-using a syringe.</p>
<p class="title">Indian authorities have suspended two doctors and launched an investigation after a patient's severed leg was used as a pillow to prop up his head, a hospital official said Sunday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Administrators at the government-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh state vowed "strict action" after images emerged showing the patient on a stretcher with the amputated limb being used as a headrest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We have set up a four-member committee to find out who put the severed leg under the patient's head," said Sadhna Kaushik, principal of the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College and Hospital in Jhansi, told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Strict action will be taken if our staff is found at fault."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Two doctors have been suspended pending investigation, she added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The man, identified as 28-year-old Ghanshyam, was seriously injured in a bus accident.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His relatives told the local NDTV news network that hospital staff ignored their requests that Ghanshyam, who goes by one name, be given a pillow.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"When we reached the hospital, we saw his leg being used as a headrest," Janaki Prasad, a relative, told NDTV.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I repeatedly asked the doctors to intervene but they refused," Prasad added, saying Ghanshyam's relatives eventually bought a pillow from a local market.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Kaushik said the patient was given "immediate" medical attention and one of his relatives placed the leg under his head, the Press Trust of India reported.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"The doctor looked for something to raise his head. The patient's attendant used the leg," she told PTI.</p>.<p class="bodytext">India's state-run hospitals are often ill-equipped, severely underfunded and stretched to breaking point. Just a handful of specialists are available to treat millions.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Uttar Pradesh, which is home to 200 million people, is one of India's poorest states, and long waits are common for even minor treatments.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Medical negligence is not uncommon either.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last year, dozens of children died in a single week at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh that suffered oxygen shortages. And an unlicensed doctor was arrested last month for allegedly infecting at least 46 people with HIV by re-using a syringe.</p>