72-year-old found dead in KEM toilet

The OPD department of KEM Hospital turned chaotic on Wednesday morning when a body was discovered from its toilet. Later, the deceased was identified as a 72-year-old Dattatray Kamble who had admitted his wife at the hospital on Tuesday night for treatment. The family members of the decreased blamed the hospital for negligence.

His body was found at 7 pm when a ward boy visited the toilet for cleaning. After admitting his wife at the OPD for treatment, he went to the toilet at 12 am but suddenly suffered from intracranial haemorrhage where bleeding occurs inside the skull, and he succumbed to it on the spot.

The body wasn’t discovered until morning as the door of the toilet was closed as per the hospital rule.

A nurse working at the OPD department of the hospital, said, “We close the toilet of the OPD at night. Before closing, we do check all the toilet units then only we close it.”

The decreased was a resident of Curry Road who had admitted his wife at the hospital for a kidney ailment on Tuesday. However, the family members blamed the hospital of negligence and refused to take his body back.

“As it was a toilet meant only for men, the nurse on duty didn’t go inside. She just checked the toilet from outside to find out if anybody was inside. Why should a woman be responsible for checking a men’s toilet Had there been any male ward boy, he could have checked all the units and found him. He could have been saved but owing to the negligence of the hospital, he died,” said Sudhir Mishra, one of the family members of the deceased.

The family members have expressed their desire to file a police complaint against the hospital.

Providing an explanation on the incident, Avinash N. Supe, dean of the hospital, said, “The nurse who was on duty called out in the toilet and asked if anyone was inside but when nobody answered, she closed the door. The deceased died on the spot. There was no way he could have been saved.”

So far, the police has filed an accidental death report in the case and will investigate further.