Expressing serious concern over the alleged pitiable condition of a ward at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (Civil) Hospital here, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the State Legal Services Authority to probe the allegations of poor treatment facilities at the medical institute.

A vacation bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Jyotsna Sharma passed the order on a PIL filed by Jyoti Rajpoot on Wednesday.

The bench also directed the chief medical officer, Lucknow and superintendent of the civil hospital to look into the petitioner's claim of poor treatment meted out to a destitute patient admitted by her in the hospital.

Hearing the charges of the petitioner that the hospital authorities were totally unsympathetic towards patients admitted in the "filthy and stinking" 'lawaris ward' (special ward meant for destitute patients), the court observed, "It is very surprising that in such a reputed hospital, the 'lawaris ward' is in such a deplorable condition..." According to the petitioner, on May 29, she noticed an elderly person, Suraj Chandra Bhatt, who was raggedly dressed, naked below waist and was in a paralysed state.

"It is in such a condition that the petitioner called medical emergency number '108' and took the said abandoned person to the civil hospital, where she got him admitted on the same day in the emergency ward. But when she visited the hospital next day, she found that the patient was in the same condition," the petition said.

Later, the patient was shifted to the lawaris ward where the conditions were all the more pathetic, it said.

The PIL said there were six other patients in this ward, all of them in paralysed state, and the stench coming from them due to not taking bath and following other hygienic practices had spread across the ward.

The plea also mentioned how the petitioner informed the hospital authorities about the pathetic state of the ward but in vain.

The court has posted the matter for arguments on June 13.

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