The hospital has some 20 doctors taking care of about 318 patients. Of these, around 107 are housed in the discharge ward. The hospital also has cases referred to from the courts.
Hyderabad: The body of a mentally-ill patient, who passed away on Monday at Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Erragadda, lies unclaimed at the mortuary of the Gandhi General Hospital (GGH) in Musheerabad.
According to the police, the body will stay at the Gandhi hospital for the next three days. If no one comes, the body will be handed over to the municipal body which will perform the final rites as per the religion of the deceased.
The 36-year-old patient named Karan was admitted to the hospital by the Kataram police station in August 2023. He was undergoing treatment for mental retardation. On Tuesday morning, he was found dead in his bed and 91 other patients were found to be suffering from symptoms of acute gastroenteritis.
On Friday, the area outside the "discharge ward" of the hospital wore a deserted look, which was not the case on the day the news broke out. Outside, a board reads "rehab centre for recovered persons (male)". In stark contrast, the outpatient block is flocked by patients and their attendants.
"The hospital gets patients suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, mental retardation, depression, anxiety and de-addiction as well. Usually patients keep coming in for treatment. If they get violent or are in serious condition, they are admitted here for about one or two months and an attendant is asked to stay with them," said Dr Navyaja Rao, assistant professor at the hospital.
"Once they get treated, a committee of doctors decides whether the patient is fit for discharge. If the family is around, they take them back. If not, they are kept in the 'discharge ward'. For a long time, patients have been 'piling up' in this ward. Some have been staying here for more than two years. One or two patients even longer than that," she added.
The hospital has some 20 doctors taking care of about 318 patients. Of these, around 107 are housed in the discharge ward. The hospital also has cases referred to from the courts.
"There are many such patients who are brought in from the magistrate and since their families could not be traced, they have been kept here. The police also do not take them back," said Dr Rao.
According to ward boys, Karan was one of many such patients who were dependent on them even for basic self-care activities. "He was suffering from mental retardation and had to be taken care of like a child," said Dr Anita Rayrala, medical superintendent of the hospital.
While Dr Rayrala told Deccan Chronicle on Friday that the patient was found "unresponsive", without any visible signs of food poisoning, the ward boys tell a different story.
"We used to take care of him like our own family members. Right from making him brush his teeth, taking a bath, using the washroom, we helped him with everything. He had loose motions after the dinner in the evening on June 2," said a ward boy.
The police are reiterating Dr Rayrala's statement. "The cause of his death is yet to be determined. The post-mortem is over and the result will be out soon," said one police officer investigating the case.
According to Dr Rayrala, the water samples from the hospital have been found to be mostly "satisfactory" but they will be tested again for confirmation. "The samples of the actual food prepared were not taken as most of what was left was discarded on the next morning itself. The authorities only took samples of eggs and some other items," she said.
"The sweets were suspected to be the cause because it was the only additional thing that was cooked that day besides the regular food," she added.
The patients' families are constantly called up to take them back but most of them do not respond. Even after the news of the incident spread wide, the superintendent said no families came to take any of the discharged patients back.
"Most of them are destitutes and their families are not around. Those who are, are either not concerned or have not been affected by the incident," Dr Rayrala said.
The 18 patients who were shifted to Osmania on Wednesday have been recovering. Most of them have been sent back to IMH and "now only six of them are at the OGH. They are also doing better," confirmed Dr Rakesh Sahay, medical uperintendent, Osmania General Hospital.
