New Delhi:
A 42-year-old patient died around three hours after a ceiling fan allegedly fell on him inside Delhi’s Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital, prompting his family to demand an inquiry into the incident.
In an official statement, the hospital said the patient died due to his existing medical condition and not the ceiling fan incident. It said the patient had been admitted in an unconscious condition with uncontrolled hypertension, stroke or encephalopathy complicated by aspiration pneumonia with respiratory failure.
The hospital also said a preliminary inspection found that the fan fell after its shaft fractured.
Aslam Qureshi, an advocate who claimed to have witnessed the incident, said, “I had gone to the ward to meet my brother when I saw the ceiling fan fall on a patient. I immediately recorded a video of the incident. The patient appeared to be around 50 years old and had been admitted just a day earlier. He was fine before the incident, but later died. The doctors are saying the fan fell on a nurse, but I was present there and saw it fall on the patient.” “The doctor reached the patient after a delay. The hospital administration has been negligent. The fans and air-conditioners meant for patients are not functioning properly, while doctors have air-conditioned facilities. There is no value of patients’ lives here,” he alleged.
The incident took place around 9.30 pm on Saturday in one of the cubicles of Ward 27, the hospital said.
According to eyewitnesses, the ceiling fan suddenly came loose and fell directly onto the patient’s bed, striking Akbar in the abdomen. He was immediately attended to by hospital staff.
The patient died on Sunday afternoon, the hospital said.
On Sunday morning, Akbar’s family reached the hospital and demanded a thorough inquiry, alleging that the incident reflected serious lapses in maintenance and patient safety.
Eyewitnesses and other patients’ attendants in the ward alleged that the fan suddenly detached and fell on Akbar’s bed, leading to his death.
Several attendants in the ward claimed that many air-conditioners in the ward were either not functioning or had missing parts, leaving ceiling fans as the primary source of ventilation amid the humid weather.
Family members of patients expressed anger over the incident and questioned the condition of facilities at the government-run hospital. “Is this the kind of treatment patients are getting?” an attendant said.
Another attendant alleged that his brother had earlier been administered an incorrect needle, which was later replaced by hospital staff. “First, they put the wrong needle in his hand and then came back and changed it,” he claimed.
The hospital said the PWD maintenance team reached the site immediately after being informed of the incident, secured the affected area, removed the damaged ceiling fan and restored the facility by replacing it with a new fan.
A detailed inspection carried out on Sunday found that “the fan shaft had fractured, leading to the fall of the ceiling fan”. The hospital said such a failure was “highly unusual and is not expected under normal operating conditions” and added that the incident would be investigated in detail by the hospital authorities.
The hospital also said the patient was immediately assessed clinically following the incident and thoroughly examined to evaluate any injury caused by the impact of the falling fan. “No signs of external injury were present,” it said.
It further said “no major injury was sustained by any patient, attendant, or healthcare worker due to the incident”.
The hospital said the patient’s body had been handed over to his relatives and maintained that “the cause of death of the patient has been his existing medical condition and not related to the incident.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
