Mumbai: Comatose patient bitten in the eye by rat dies

Parvinder Gupta

A week after a rat bit his right eye and gave him an ulcer, 27-year-old comatose patient Parvinder Gupta passed away at the Jogeshwari trauma centre on Thursday evening. According to the hospital authorities, his body would be sent to Siddharth Hospital for post-mortem, following which the last rites would be performed on Friday.

Parvinder suffered a paralytic attack on March 6 while on his way to work. After he visited a local clinic, he was referred to Highland Hospital in Thane for further treatment. An MRI scan revealed that he had developed a vein blockage, which was obstructing the flow of blood to the brain. While undergoing a brain surgery at the hospital, he slipped into a coma.

Parvinder's father Ram Gupta, said, "Last year he met with an accident, but at that time he didn't undergo treatment properly. This led to a swelling in his brain. We collected R10 lakh for treatment, but he couldn't be saved."

Around a month ago, Parvinder was shifted to the Jogeshwari trauma centre, where at first he was kept in the general ward, and later shifted to the ICU after a rat gnawed on his eye. When his condition deteriorated, the hospital authorities asked his family to shift him to Cooper Hospital for further treatment. As the family refused to do so, they were made to sign an undertaking absolving the hospital of all blame if his health condition worsened.

"We did our best to save him. We'll be able to perform his last rites after a post-mortem," said Nirmala Gupta, Parvinder's cousin. Dr H Bhava, medical superintendent of the hospital, said, "We tried our best to save him, but his condition was very critical when he was brought to the hospital."

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