Cuttack: A day after OTV reported about the plight of an elderly person who died allegedly after being denied treatment and left unattended for days at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, the medical authorities today decided to set up special wards for destitute patients.
Earlier, the dead body of an unidentified person was left unattended in front of the busy medicine ward since Saturday. It was only after OTV reported about the shocking incident yesterday; SCB authorities swung into action and shifted the body.
SCB Emergency Officer, Bhubananda Moharana told OTV that the hospital superintendent has instructed five departments to set up special wards for destitute patients.
The special wards for destitute patients will come up at Orthopedics, Medicine, Surgery, Paediatrics and Gynaecology departments within seven days.
The Head of departments (HODs) have been asked to identity requisite space for the destitute ward in their respective departments, informed sources.
“It is certainly an unfortunate incident. However, we have decided to set up destitute wards at 5 departments which will be made operational within a week,” said Moharana.
Moharana further informed that once dedicated wards for destitute patients are made operational, it would become easier for NGOs to attend them. CCTV cameras would also be installed for maintaining 24/7 surveillance.
Meanwhile, SCB authorities informed that the body of the elderly person is still ‘unidentified’. The body will be kept for 72 hours and if there are no claimants, process for cremation will be undertaken after conducting post-mortem.