Chennai: Nursing students of the Institute of Social Obstetrics and Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children held a protest today to condemn the action of the kith and kin of a cardiac patient who reportedly attacked a nursing student who injected medicine prescribed by a doctor.
The protesters demand safety and a police case to be filed against the attackers. Students of Madras Medical College, Kilpauk Medical College and Stanley Medical College staged a sit-in.
The woman patient (67) was admitted at the hospital with cardiac complaint, uterus and knee problem and fever 8 July. According to the post-mortem report, the hospital’s director told News Today, she died of cardiac arrest.
“For the past one week, the patient had been administered antibiotics as per the doctor’s prescription who prescribed it despite her age and cardiac problem,” said Boominathan, a nursing student who had taken part in the protest.
According to him, “Soon after noticing the patient vomiting blood, the students rushed her to the emergency ward. However, she died. Angered by it, the relatives of the patient attacked the nurse who administered the medicine.”
It is also learnt that the protesting students were locked up in the auditorium of the hospital.
However, the Dean, Dr Narayana Babu, denied the allegations and said, “We were holding talks in the auditorium and agreed to the demand of stepping up security. We assured them of increasing the number of CCTVs installed in the institute to boost safety.”
Asked about prescribing antibiotics, he said, “Antibiotics are sometimes life-saving and prevent infections and cannot be ignored.”
He further stated that the police have been informed of the incident.
Supporting the protesters, Doctors Association for Social Equality general secretary, Dr G R Ravindranath, condemned the attack on the nurse and demanded action.