Footballer's death: BJP chief questions conditions of hospitals in TN, seeks ex gratia of Rs 2 crore

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 16 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief of Tamil Nadu K Annamalai reacted to the death of a football player due to the alleged negligence of doctors and questioned the condition of hospitals in the state.
K Annamalai mentioned in his official statement on Tuesday that the death of the footballer was shocking and painful and while asserting that the doctors have been suspended, he questioned "what went wrong?"
"Does the hospital have all the facilities for Surgery? What went wrong? Does the hospital have the required medicines? If the hospitals in the constituency of the Chief Minister are in this situation, what about the other ones across villages in Tamil Nadu? The Tamil Nadu government has to answer all these questions," his statement read.
He further demanded an ex gratia to the family of the deceased on the behalf of the party.
"On behalf of the BJP, we demand that the government give ex gratia of Rs 2 crore to the family of Priya," it added.
His remarks had come in a statement while he reacted to the death of a 17-year-old football player, Priya R, in a government hospital in Tamil Nadu. The kin of the deceased has alleged the doctor's negligence as a cause of her death.
According to the information, a Chennai-based teenage football player had undergone knee surgery (right leg) at Government Peripheral Hospital, Periyar Nagar. Following the complications in her health, she was shifted to Chennai's Rajiv Gandhi Government hospital on November 8.
As per the medical reports, footballer Priya died Tuesday morning due to liver, heart and kidney complications.
The reports revealed that the negligence of Periyar Nagar Hospital led to the amputation of Priya's leg at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital. "Priya did not respond to the treatment where she died today (Tuesday) morning," it added.
After receiving the body, the family members of the teenage footballer started protesting with their demand for immediate action from the police into this matter.
The alleged doctors responsible were transferred and suspended with immediate effect and the police have also lodged an FIR in the matter based on the allegations. However, the Deputy Commissioner of Police mentioned that any further can be taken only after examining the autopsy reports which are yet to be received.
"There are two types of action one being departmental has been taken by the Dean and Health Minister that the doctors accused of the alleged case have been transferred and suspended and the other one is on the basis of criminal culpability, for which we have registered a First Information Report," DCP Chennai Albert John said on Tuesday.
"We have registered an FIR on the basis of criminal culpability. The autopsy has already been done and action will be taken on the basis of its reports. We will also see what charges need to be imposed more after the recommendation of the doctor's committee," the DCP said further.
Notably, the Director of Medical Education in an official statement has informed that Dr Paul Ram Shankar, Assistant professor of the Orthopedic department, and Dr K Somasundar, casualty medical officer at the Government Peripheral hospital Periyar Nagar have been suspended.
As per the family's allegations, footballer Priya died on Tuesday after she was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital on Thursday (November 17) after complications following her knee surgery at Periyar Nagar Hospital.
Meanwhile, an official statement from the dean of Rajiv Gandhi Government hospital Theranirajan disclosed that there was a delay in the removal of torneq (which is applied during the surgery to reduce the blood flow and has to be removed then) to the site of injury and caused necrosis of tissues and vessels as a result of which the 17-year old player developed "unstability".
It further mentioned that the deceased football player was transferred to Rajiv Gandhi government hospital and besides knee amputation, subsequent to the surgery a debridement was also done yesterday.
"Before that she had developed myglobilinia. Myglobin is excreted via kidney and then kidney failed, liver failed and she had multiple organ failure," it added mentioning that the girl had gone through an arthroscopic surgery in which a ligament tear was refixed.