Mahanati director alleges medical negligence for friend's death

Director Nag Ashwin took to social media to allege medical negligence at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, after his friend, cinematographer Rakesh Erukalla of Yevade Subrahmanyam and Ko Ante Koti fame, passed away, following an accident.

Ashwin claimed no medical staff was available at the hospital and accused the authorities of a lack of patient care. Holding the hospital authorities for medical negligence, Ashwin took to Twitter to narrate the incident and stated that their efforts to save him yielded no response on a holiday. “My friend died in Gandhi Hospital on Sunday. He was alive for three hours after they brought him from the accident. As it was Sunday, there was no proper care. The parents had to push the stretcher around themselves. At any other hospital, three hours would have saved him,” he tweeted.

Further, the director asserted that the public health system has collapsed as such government hospitals are saddled with poor management and lack of necessary resources. “My sister worked at Gandhi and she says she can imagine... On a Sunday night... Why didn't they shift him somewhere else... In the capital of a state, why can't we count on a government hospital to rush to save a life, Sunday or any day,” he wrote.

Ashwin also looked to reach out to Telangana IT and Municipality Minister, K Taraka Ramarao with his tweet. “What can we do K Taraka Ramarao sir to make sure that the word 'government hospital' need not be synonymous with carelessness and death? My friend was easily one of the best cameramen we have in the state. I don't know whom else to ask sir. Nobody should die needlessly,” tweeted the director.

Despite repeated attempts to reach Nag Ashwin about the issue, he remained unavailable.