GREATER NOIDA: A 28-year-old woman died within two-and-a-half hours of a surgery, the last in a string of three unsuccessful operations, at a nursing home in Greater Noida’s Rabupura, triggering protests by locals and her family members, who alleged the surgeries were performed by two quacks.
The woman, Poonam, had complained of stomach ache for the past few months after which her husband Pradeep took her to Raj nursing home hospital for treatment. The owner, Rajendra Singh, diagnosed she had an abdominal lump and advised surgery.
Poonam was admitted to the facility on Monday afternoon. The first surgery took place around 2pm. Her relatives alleged she started bleeding and her condition deteriorated. A doctor, Rajiv Chaudhary, who was called to the facility, told them another operation was required. This was conducted around 4pm.
“I wanted to take my wife to a better facility but Rajendra and Dr Chaudhary claimed they would ensure she’s fine at any cost,” Pradeep said.
He alleged the duo carried out a third operation. When Poonam’s condition worsened, Rajendra took the couple to Yatharth hospital in Greater Noida, where doctors declared her dead around 3am on Tuesday. Pradeep alleged Rajendra left him at the hospital and brought Poonam’s body to the Rabupura police station and surrendered.
The family complained to police and demanded that Rajendra and Dr Chaudhary be arrested. Cops, however, sent the body for post-mortem. After it returned from the mortuary, about 600 people, including Pradeep’s relatives, surrounded Raj nursing home for almost four hours, during which the nursing home staff locked the building and fled.
The protesters alleged delay on part of police in lodging an FIR against the accused. They also claimed that Rajendra had been running the nursing home without any degree. Pradeep said he suspected that even Dr Chaudhary was not qualified to conduct surgeries.
As the protest led to a traffic jam outside the nursing home, police teams reached the spot. ACP-4 (Greater Noida) Rudra Kumar Singh and SDM Jewar Rajnikant tried to pacify the villagers. Rabupura nagar panchayat chairman Virendra Singh ensured an FIR had been lodged and handed over a copy to the family.
He also assured compensation to them, after which the villagers relented. DCP (Greater Noida) Abhishek Singh said the FIR was lodged against both the accused under IPC Section 308 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) as soon as a complaint was received. He said police are verifying the duo’s degrees.
