Cuttack: An elderly patient, Saturday, committed suicide by jumping off the third floor of the New Medicine Ward building at Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) here, police said.
The deceased has been identified as Basanta Jena, 75, of Balasore. Mangalabag police have seized the body and sent it for post-mortem.
According to SCBMCH sources, Jena was admitted to the New Medicine Ward October 6 after he suffered a brain stroke.
Jena allegedly jumped off the third floor of the building in the afternoon. The hospital staff rescued Jena in a critical condition and rushed him to the Casualty Ward. However, doctors declared Jena dead on arrival.
SCBMCH authorities, meanwhile, constituted a three member committee comprising senior doctors Jayanta Panda, Rina Mohanty and Nirmal Sahu to probe the incident. They also served a notice on a private agency that has been arranging attendants for destitute patients at the hospital.
SCBMCH superintendent CBK Mohanty said the hospital authorities have engaged three attendants to look after destitute patients at the New Medicine Ward. “Jena jumped off the floor when the attendants were looking after other patients at the ward. The three-member panel will look into all aspects of the incident. We will take action against the guilty after receiving the probe report,” Mohanty added.
Many social activists, meanwhile, demanded a high-level probe into the incident.