National Human Rights Commission notice to Centre, Delhi govt over death of patient

New Delhi: The NHRC has issued notices to the Centre and the Delhi government over a media report on the death of a man after various government hospitals in the city denied him treatment. Expressing serious concern over the recent incident, the rights panel has said it is "painful" to know that a person who was taken to a nearby hospital well in time was "not attended to by doctors even in the national capital". "Instead, he was referred to the other hospital, every time.

The Rajiv Gandhi hospital is a super-specialty hospital of Delhi. It is not understandable that doctors were not available at such a well-equipped hospital," it said. Taking cognisance of the report, the National Human Rights Commission has sent notices to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Delhi chief secretary, seeking a detailed report in four weeks on the allegations in the media report with regard to the incident.

According to the June 17 report, the 22-year-old man, an an auto-rickshaw driver, suffering from breathlessness and chest pain, was "not provided treatment by the doctors at different government hospitals in Delhi". The content of the news report, the NHRC said, are "indicative of lack of sensitivity towards saving a human life on the part of doctors of government-run hospitals, which were not able to provide life-saving medical treatment to the patient.