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D Jose in Trivandrum
Trivandrum District Collector S Sreenivasan and Mayor Prof J Chandra were held hostage in the mortuary of the Trivandrum Medical College Hospital on Monday, following the death of 27-year-old Shaji, following surgery.
The two had reached the hospital to defuse tension caused by refusal by angry relatives and local people to receive the body without suspending doctors who treated Shaji.
The family members alleged negligence by the orthopaedic surgeon and anaesthesia wing doctors. They attributed the death to flaws in anaesthesia.
The district collector and the mayor were released later in the afternoon following a decision to order a probe into the death, by keeping orthopaedic surgeon Dr Achan M Alex away from office by Tuesday evening.
While the mayor was released after two hours, the collector was held captive for more than four hours.
He was released only after the family members accepted health secretary Rajeev Sadanand's assurance that action would be taken against the guilty following the inquiry.
The relatives later took away the body for cremation.
Shaji, a resident of Pongumoodu, was first admitted to hospital on March 3, with a hand injury following a fall.
Shaji, who was discharged after treatment the next day, returned to the hospital on March 9, complaining of severe pain and was admitted to the orthopaedic wing for immediate surgery.
However, Shaji's condition deteriorated. Shaji was shifted to the critical care unit, where Shaji died on March 26.
Shaji's mother approached the authorities, besides the Human Rights Commission on March 22, alleging that the doctors were hiding Shaji's condition.
She had expressed fear that Shaji's life was in danger.
Neither the health authorities nor human rights commission members took her pleas seriously.
Shaji was the sole breadwinner of the family.
The situation at the hospital is tense, while shops and business establishments in the area downed shutters following a strike call.
Meanwhile, doctors have threatened to launch an agitation if the doctors concerned are suspended.
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