Dead patient's relatives ransack hospital in Navi Mumbai

Irate relatives of a patient who died at a hospital in Navi Mumbai ransacked the medical facility and also assaulted its staff on Tuesday, alleging negligence in treatment, police said. They went on a rampage and smashed the fittings, fixtures and furniture of the hospital in Vashi and also beat up its staff, the police said. An official at the Vashi police station said an offence of rioting has been registered people involved in the incident.

According to the patient's relatives, the hospital staff was "lethargic" in attending to the ailing man due to which he died, a charge denied by the medical facility. The hospital, in a statement released late in the night, said the patient in question was brought on Tuesday morning with complaint of breathlessness.

"Immediately the medical team started assessing him. While the assessment was underway, his family members enquired about hospitalisation, it was communicated to them that all critical care beds were full," the statement said.

"Before we could assist the family with thenext steps, the patient collapsed. Immediately, lifesaving procedures were initiated, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) was administered, but the patient could not be revived," the hospital said.

The patients family reacted aggressively to the news of his death, it said. "His family members vandalised the hospital and physically assaulted its staff, causing grave injury to them," the release said.

"In order to keep up patient safety and well-being of our medical and non-medical staff,we have escalated the said incident to the police," the hospital said.