UP: Patient’s severed leg used as pillow, four suspended

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has suspended two doctors and two nurses of the Maharani Laxmi Bai medical college in Jhansi for using the severed leg of a patient as a pillow. UP minister for medical education, Ashutosh Tandon , on Saturday night, ordered suspension of the four medical staff in the emergency ward after photographs of the incident went viral on the social media.

The suspended doctors are Dr Mahendra Singh, senior resident Alok Agarwal and two nurses, Deepa Narang and Shashi Srivastava. The minister told reporters that departmental proceedings would be initiated against the consultant doctor, Dr Praveen Saraogi who was supposed to be on call in the emergency ward at the time of the incident.

Dr Sadhna Kaushik, principal, Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, said that the victim was given immediate medical aid.

“The doctor looked for something to raise the patient’s head when the patient’s attendant used the severed leg for the same. We have set up a panel and strict action will be taken if our staff is found to be at fault,” she said in a statement.

Mr Ghanshyam, 28, a school bus conductor, had lost one of his legs when the bus turned turtle in Lehcura area in Jhansi district on Saturday. He was standing at the gate of the bus at the time of the accident and his leg was cut off. When he was brought to the hospital, his severed leg was also brought with him. Around half-a-dozen students were injured in the accident.