Patients kin look to state for help

MADURAI / NAGERCOIL: Three months have gone by. P Rukmani (34), who was taken into the operation theatre for a family planning surgery is still in a hospital in a vegetative stage.The family members of Rukmani are hoping that  the government would provide specialised care to see that she recovers. According an Express report published a week ago, the patient was shifted to Madurai Government Rajaji Hospital for further treatment. But the Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital authorities and the district administration were tight-lipped on the matter. On Wednesday, Express traced the victim, who is still in coma, to the GRH, Madurai. Her brother, P Rajaram, said that Rukmani, who is married to S Ganesan, a coolie, is a resident of  Chembankarai, Kanyakumari, and was admitted to Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital  on March 18, 2011. The couple have two kids G Subash (15) and G Amirthavarshini (14). On March 19, after she developed respiratory, doctors said that she had to be administered oxygen. But, she was administered nitrogen oxide and she slipped into coma. Later, the doctors told her family that the company, which supplied oxygen, had given them the wrong cylinder. Till April 12,  she was at the KMCH. The family then decided to shift her to GRH, Madurai.It was said that Dr Sri Ram Kumar, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital  Medical Superintendent, filed a complaint on March 21 blaming the cylinder supplying company.The Collector had also put the blame on the company, which, he said, had marked the cylinder wrongly. But, both the police and the medical authorities were not ready to divulge the name of the company. When contacted Advocate I Sahayam Delver of Nagercoil, appearing for the victim, said that the hospital was yet  to initiate legal action against the company.