A day after reports emerged that 33 residents at Puthujeevan Trust Hospital for Psychological Medicine and De-addiction at Thrikkodithanam here died in eight years, a detailed probe on Monday unearthed serious irregularities in the registry of residents at the institution.
A police investigation has found that three of the 33 persons marked dead in the registry are alive. Based on the finding, a detailed probe into the whereabouts of the remaining persons has been launched.
As per the registry, 18 residents died while or after being shifted to various hospitals and four reportedly committed suicide. Seven persons died after discharge. Official sources say the list also includes names of those who died at a destitute centre run by the trust.
A primary examination of the hospital register by Additional District Magistrate (ADM) Anil Oommen the other day revealed that 33 residents died in eight years. The ADM also found a dispute between the hospital management and the Payippad grama panchayat over the licence for the institution.
Report soon
The ADM is slated to file a report to Kottayam District Collector P.K. Sudheer Babu soon.
While a woman and two men died between February 23 and 29 with almost similar symptoms, six are undergoing treatment at Government Medical College Hospital (MCH), Kottayam. A special medical board has been monitoring the health condition of the six. The team headed by Ranju Raveendran, Professor, Forensic Medicine Department of the MCH, comprises Sheela Kurian and V. Satheesh, heads of General Medicine and Psychiatry Departments respectively.
“Five of them are doing quite well while one has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. A preliminary assessment points to a pneumonia outbreak,” Dr. Raveendran says.
