Poverty, Utter Negligence By Gandhi And Osmania Hospitals Claimed Prakash’s Life: Friends

Hyderabad: The death of L. Prakash (26) on Monday after shuttling between state-run hospitals - Gandhi Hospital and Osmania General Hospital - has evoked anguish from Prakash’s friends compelling them to write a letter to Gandhi Hospital superintendent. The letter has been signed by six of his friends.

The letter narrated their ordeal at the lack of medical system and also stressing that poverty killed Prakash as they were made to shuttle between hospitals in five hours.

The letter read, “Growing up in poverty and faith put in the Telangana government as a sin led to Prakash’s death. He could have survived had the hospital had basic infrastructure.”

The letter urged Gandhi Hospital superintendent Dr JV Reddy to take action against those responsible for it. However, Dr JV Reddy said that doctors are not at fault as Prakash slipped into coma when he was brought back from Osmania General Hospital (OGH).

Meanwhile, superintendent of OGH Dr GVS Moorthy said, “The staff said they did not ask the patient to leave the hospital. There is no shortage of beds or ventilators.”

Prakash suffered injuries on Sunday evening after his bike skidded on a highway near Gajwel. He was first taken to a nearby hospital in Gajwel but as he sustained head injuries they referred him to Gandhi hospital.

Prakash is the only breadwinner for his widowed mother L Chandramma (65), a resident of Begumpet village, Rajapeta mandal in Nalgonda

He was then taken to Gandhi Hospital but citing defunct CT machine the authorities referred to OGH. To their dismay, they were again asked to take Prakash back to Gandhi as OGH lacked a spare ventilator. In the mean time, Prakash slipped into coma and was declared dead when he was brought to Gandhi hospital.

“Our biggest mistake was to take him to Gajwel area hospital thinking that since it was in CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s constituency the hospital would have all facilities to treat road accident victims,” Prakash’s friend Madhusudhan Reddy said.

His friends rued that he was the only breadwinner for his widowed mother L Chandramma (65), a resident of Begumpet village, Rajapeta mandal in Nalgonda.