Bhubaneswar: Shifted from SUM Hospital to Apollo following a fire mishap in the former, he battled for life for 20 days but finally breathed his last early morning November 6.
Pradyumna Nath Nanda, a 73-year-old retired employee of a private firm in Keonjhar, was admitted to SUM Hospital’s medicine ward October 3 by his son Badrinath following a nerve injury in his spinal cord which led to a paralytic attack.
Before fire broke out at SUM Hospital October 17, the Nandas were a happy lot as doctors had informed Badrinath that his father was improving and was likely to be released in a few days. But fate willed otherwise as fire erupted at SUM’s dialysis ward, spreading to the Emergency and ICU.
Badrinath (35) said he was sitting outside the medicine ward when fire broke out and within minutes smoke engulfed the entire area. “I lifted my father on my shoulder and ran outside. Nobody helped us,” he claimed.
He got into an ambulance and took him to Capital Hospital which referred his father to Apollo. “As Capital Hospital has no neurology and cardiology facility, doctors referred my father to Apollo Hospital where he was shifted to the ICU October 18 evening,” Nanda recounted. Pradyumna had already inhaled a lot of smoke during the few minutes that he was at SUM after the fire broke out.
Apollo medical superintendent Dr Biraj Mohan Mishra said Pradyumna was referred to the hospital in a very critical condition. “We tried our best but failed to save him. A team of four- five doctors was attending to after him,” said Mishra.
Due to prolonged exposure to smoke, Pradyumna developed bilateral pneumonia which finally led to lung failure and resulted in his death, said Apollo doctors.
While Apollo provided the medical care to Pradyumna, it also issued a hefty bill which was way beyond Badrinath’s limited means. “When I told them the government has announced free treatment for SUM fire victims, they said they have not received any such instructions,” he said.
After Pradyumna’s story was highlighted by the media, SUM authorities approached Badrinath and decided to foot the entire bill.
Badrinath, whose takes private tuitions, said he took his father’s body to Puri after the autopsy Sunday afternoon where his last rites were performed.
When asked about the compensation declared by the state for SUM victims, he replied that money cannot bring back his father but the government should ensure families of victims get the amount without any hassles. Sources claimed that two of the nine SUM patients shifted to Apollo have died. With Pradyumna’s death, the SUM fire mishap toll has risen to 30.
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