NOBODY TO FILL YOUR FORM? GO AWAY: KEM SNUBS HOMELESS YOUTH WITH GANGRENE

Nobody to fill your form? Go away: KEM snubs homeless youth with gangrene
Farooq Sheikh, 28, lying outside KEM unattended, with a gangrene-affected leg
A 28-year-old homeless man, who had developed a bad case of gangrene on his right leg, was denied treatment and sent away by doctors at the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Parel.

The reason? He did not bring with him a bystander.

Farooq Sheikh was brought to the hospital by three youngsters who had taken pity to his condition after finding him abandoned on a footpath with a gangrene-affected leg near Shree Gadge Maharaj Dharmshala.

However, their generous gesture did not amount to much after hospital authorities remained firm on the general policy of bringing a bystander in case of serious ailments. Preliminary examination revealed that the gangrene on Sheikh’s leg had to be operated upon, and might even require amputation.

According to the casualty security guards, who had talked to the three youngsters before Mirror reached the hospital, Sheikh could not walk and had nobody to look after him. “The boys brought him here as they felt he would die in the rain,” said a guard.

After the youngsters left, Sheikh was placed on a stretcher in one of the corners of the hospital.

“After the boys left, doctors did not do anything further and in the evening, he was removed from the casualty,” said a cop from the Bhoiwada police station which has chowky in the casualty area.

When Mumbai Mirror arrived at the site, Sheikh was lying in a stretcher outside the casualty, next to a dustbin. He was unable to move nor did he have anyone looking after him.

“My family members are in Gaya (Bihar). Please help me,” said Sheikh.

“Whenever we get patients with no relatives, we generally inform the cops and they take care of the formalities. We did the same with Sheikh but they did not take follow up,” said Dr Subodh, the Casualty Medical Officer.

After Mumbai Mirror’s intervention, the hospital authorities admitted the patient.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/others/Nobody-to-fill-your-form-Go-away-KEM-snubs-homeless-youth-with-gangrene/articleshow/52948806.cms