Five months on, youth with ruptured knee waits for surgery

For 20-year-old Deshbandhu College student Rama Mukhiya, Safdarjung Hospital was a ray of hope to get his ruptured knee treated, as state government hospitals did not entertain him properly.

The administration at Safdarjung, however, have put his operation on halt without treatment for more than five months, which could do damage to his right knee.

Mukhiya met with an accident and broke his right knee ligament in Jammu and Kashmir, when he had gone to appear for a competitive exam. The patient went to Mahavir Hospital in Delhi, where he could not get the proper treatment.

"Doctors at Mahavir Hospital prescribed me to take calcium tablets which were not sufficient to heal my injury. Following this, somebody recommended me to visit Safdarjung Hospital," said Mukhiya.

"Moreover, doctors at the premier hospital diagnosed my injury properly and referred my case into Orthopadic department in the hospital, where they told me to undergo the surgery to repair the ligaments," he added.

"As per the suggestion from senior officials and my poor economic condition, I submitted all my valid documents to the hospital administration. They gave me the assurance for the treatment," said Mukhiya.

He further said: "After a few days when I enquired about the status of my operation, they did not respond to me appropriately and later, I had been informed that my application had been rejected due to improper documentation. Shockingly, all my documents had been checked and verified by the associated doctor."

"It has been more than five months after the injury and doctors had warned me about the worsening condition of this ligament injury. But the hospital administration did not bother about my condition and kept rejecting my application despite all the valid documents," he added.

"Ligament injury should be treated within the time frame of nearly fifteen days. Delay in treatment would have to be repaired through knee replacement," said a senior doctor.

According to Anil Rai, Medical Director, Safdarjung Hospital: "The issue has come to my notice but I have not seen the documents of Rama Mukhiya. If any thing comes out to be fishy, I will definitely take the action against the concern officials."