13 June 2011
Bangalore, India
Compensation Won’t Reach Victim Till Doctors Inform Police
A paralyzed Shabbir with his mother
This negligence has taken a toll on the life of Shabbir, who is permanently bedridden. He is back at the government hospital for a wound that has not healed, and also growing bed sores. It was on February 5, 2007, around 9am, that Shabbir, who was working on a school building under construction, fell from the second floor. He was rushed to KC General Hospital, where authorities termed it a medico-legal case (MLC) that required the intervention of the police, and registration of a criminal case.
Documents in possession of TOI, obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, revealed that even after four years, the hospital has conveniently forgotten to inform Malleswaram police located next door. “We are yet to receive any MLC memo from the hospital relating to Shabbir’s case," Malleswaram police said on April 23.
Mir Saifulla, a social worker who found Shabbir in a pitiable condition at KC General Hospital, said the youth’s father, Khasim, had to sell off his property in Davanagere to pay for his son’s medical expenses at a specialty hospital in the city. Soon after he fell from the second floor, Shabbir was rushed to hospital and was diagnosed as having traumatic paraplegia. Doctors advised him to undergo surgery to decompress the lower vertebra (spinal cord). But after the surgical procedures, his condition worsened, forcing his family to shift him to a specialty hospital where another surgery was performed.
“His condition is getting worse. He is not liable to get compensation because of the negligence of hospital authorities. The contractor of the building should have been booked under a criminal case," said Saifulla. Khasim plans to meet medical education minister S A Ramdass. “I can only appeal to the minister so that such things do not happen to any poor youngster like my son. His wound stinks and I fear that maggots have started creeping around it," he added.
No End to Suffering
- Shabbir fell from a building in 2007
- Diagnosed with traumatic paraplegia, hospital terms it a medico-legal case
- Hospital authorities yet to inform Malleswaram police, delaying Shabbir’s right to compensation
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