Bihar cop's death raises questions about workings of government hospitals

Head Constable, Vipin Kumar Yadav, 42, finally succumbed to his injuries, minutes after he finally got a bed in the Safdarjung Hospital, on Thursday. Yadav, who was injured following a car accident while going from Bhagalpur Central Jail to the Sitamarhi Court with a criminal for a hearing on April 15, came into the media spotlight as all the major government hospitals in Bihar and then Delhi refused to take him. And finally, two months after his injury, he died.       

Family members are in shock. "I still cannot believe it that my uncle who got injured in the line of duty, failed to get treatment in five major government hospitals of the national Capital. And after all the media attention when he was finally given a bed in Safdarjuing Hospital, he died," said Keshav Kumar, Yadav's nephew.

Yadav had been operated at Balaji Action Medical Institute, a multi-speciality hospital for a ruptured liver and renal failure, where the abscess and dead tissues were removed from his abdomen, on Tuesday. He was critical since. On Thursday, he finally got a bed in Safdarjung ICU at around 5:15 pm but passed away at 6:30 pm of an organ failure.

The ruptured gastro organs had led to more abscess formation affecting other organs including the heart and finally the brain.

The hospital will be performing a post-mortem on his body to look for the exact cause of death. Yadav's 17-year-old daughter, Priyanka Kumari, who has been by her father's bedside since his accident is still in a state of shock. Yadav's wife has not been informed yet.

"We are planning to take his body to Sitamarhi tomorrow after the necessary documentation work, where he will be cremated. We have not informed aunty (Rambha Devi, Yadav's wife), and might give her a sleeping pill tomorrow. We might not tell her until we reach home," said Kumar.