A woman who was allegedly assaulted in SMCH’s ICU has succumbed; “DC asked Super to investigate,” family

Silchar resident Devika Das, (49) has breathed her last at the Medicine department’s ICU in Silchar Medical College and Hospital. Das was kept in ICU after her dialysis. With chronic diabetes and acute kidney issues, Das was admitted to the hospital on August 18, 2020. Her blood pressure had dropped to 78/38 during admission.

On August 24, she had undergone dialysis and was shifted to bed number one of ICU in Medicine Ward. According to her husband Ranjit Das, Devika Das was assaulted in the ICU. A Facebook post went viral which states that when Devika Das said she was thirsty, the person in PPE slapped her multiple times instead of serving her water. The Facebook post was all over the Internet on August 25.

Yesterday, Ranjit Das informed that his wife, Devika Das is no more. “She has breathed her last, I was there outside the ICU and it is a sad day for all of us,” he said.

Das added, “The deputy commissioner has taken cognizance of our complaint and asked the superintendent to investigate the matter. I know the doctors in SMCH will not accept it, but, my wife had no reason to lie especially when she is at her death bed.”

The SMCH spokesperson said whenever an allegation of this sort surfaces they always probe it. However, the official spokesperson ruled out the possibility of an assault. “The allegations are bizarre and I am sure there is no truth in it. We often find such blatant allegations and it is better to overlook them,” he said.

The spokesperson added, “May be the lady had a bad dream which she shared with her husband and it got blown out of proportion. Why would someone in PPE enter the ICU in the medicine ward and slap for asking water.”

While he assured that a fair investigation will take place but his personal opinion, he said, “One might not serve water because of different reasons but why will a doctor go and slap a critical patient. Such things, if the patient discussed with the attendant, they could have first checked with the doctors in the ward and then made the post viral.”

The spokesperson offered his condolences to the family of the deceased.