The Delhi High Court has sought response from the city government and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Hospital (DDU) on the compensation plea of a doctor who sustained injuries when an under-treatment Tihar Jail inmate attacked him with a surgical blade at the hospital.
Justice Manmohan issued notice to the Delhi government and DDU while hearing a plea of Raghu Raj Singh, who was working as an intern at the hospital in 2010. Singh was treating the prisoner, when suddenly in a bid to escape, the latter picked up a surgical blade and attacked him, injuring him in the cheek.
Filing the plea against the medical superintendent (MS) of DDU, the hospital's security agency and the Delhi government, Singh sought a compensation of Rs.25 lakh.
Appearing for Singh, advocate Narendra Gautam told the court that on Oct 5, 2010, a "high risk category" undertrial had been brought to the casualty ward of DDU Hospital by police after he complained of chest pain.
The undertrial was not handcuffed and only one constable escorted him, he said, adding that in order to escape, the prisoner attacked the doctor with blade that caused a deep scar across his right cheek.
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Although the doctor was given initial medical aid at DDU, the wound left a deep scar across his cheek. The plea said that the doctor had requested DDU at that time to refer him to AIIMS or some other superspecialty hospital to get required treatment for the scar, but the DDU didn't do so.
The plea stated: "Singh was 24-year-old then and unmarried. The wound has left a deep scar on his right cheek and besides the physical pain, the same has caused him much chagrin and mental depression. The plastic surgery treatment required to get the scar removed is not available in India. Singh will need to go to Germany and the same is quite costly."
The doctor sought a sum of Rs.10 lakh as compensation for the injury caused to him and another Rs.15 lakh for the treatment of his scar.
