At least 14 patients died at MIOT Hospital over the last two days after it was inundated by the Adyar River, resulting in power failure and breakdown of critical care equipment.
The premier medical institution on the southern suburbs of Chennai has virtually shutdown as hundreds of patients have been shifted out to other hospitals following the tragedy.
“We immediately evacuated the patients from the flooded area. Unfortunately, we were unable to work the ventilator due to electrical failure for the patients as oxygen pipes were washed away,” he said.
As the hospital was flooded, the in-house doctors and nurses were unable to reach the patients for rescue and army personnel reached the hospital only on Thursday morning, Mohandas said.
Bodies shifted The bodies of the people who died at the private hospital in the southern suburb of the city were brought to Royapettah Government hospital for post-mortem.
J Radhakrishnan, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, said the condition of 14 patients had been highly critical and hence their death cannot be directly attributed to the flood alone. “The patients had died between December 2 and 3. We have moved the bodies to Royapettah government hospital at the request of the MIOT Hospital,” he added.
He said the Government Hospital had earlier sent in supplies such as oxygen mask to MIOT. Of the 575 patients in the hospital, 300 were shifted to nearby hospitals. Some of the patients were referred to Ramachandra Medical Hospital and Kilpauk Hospital.
Relatives’ charge Relatives of the patients claimed they did not get any information from the hospital regarding the deaths and they had rushed to the hospital after listening to the news.
Chitra B, sister of one of the deceased, said her brother Vadivelu met with an accident on November 28 in Pondicherry and was admitted to MIOT hospital on December 1. Vadivelu’s condition was critical at the time of admission.
“None of the doctors came since Tuesday night and since we were not allowed to visit patients, we had no way of knowing their condition,” Chitra said.
Kalaivanan L, whose uncle was admitted for a throat operation said “We came to know of his death today morning via a news channel,” he said.
Govindaraju D, a police officer at the Royapettah hospital, said they have started filing the FIR. Grieving relatives were agitated as the reason for death was stated as drowning and the FIR was filed under Section 174 in the criminal procedure code, which refers to death other than natural causes.
Police officials were heard explaining that the actual cause of the deaths will only be known after the autopsy.
By evening, MIOT wore a deserted look except for security guards, who were turning people away at the gate. The guards said there are just a few patients on the third floor and arrangements are being made to shift everyone out. The whole place is flooded and people have died, the guard kept repeating.
Ambulances from other hospitals could be seen moving in and out.