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Bittu had no chance to live Ludhiana, April 11 A petty criminal, he was brought to the Ludhiana Central Jail last December. He was a patient of tuberculosis but it was not life-threatening. Yet, he lay dead just four months later. Bittu is not alone to have died this way. As many as 119 others have fallen victim to appalling health care in Punjab's jails in only 15 months. In Ludhiana Central Jail alone, eleven have died following one ailment or the other since January 1, 2007. The ailments were not life-threatening and most of those who died were between 30 and 40 years. On April 6, Bittu became Number 120 on the list of dead. Barely 30, he was a resident of Dhurri Lines here. He died of what is considered to be a treatable disease. Worse, since he was not properly looked after, he might well have infected other inmates. Kuldip Singh, jail superintendent, said Bittu weighed just 45 kg when he was sent to jail. "He had not taken any treatment earlier. When three months ago, he was declared a TB case, he was kept in the hospital only. Other inmates are safe. Bittu was given all possible medical aid,'' he said. The grim truth is, with just one doctor and one pharmacist for about 2,500 inmates in the jail, medical care is only in name. Often, by the time an ailing inmate is taken to hospital, his condition deteriorates well beyond hope of recovery. Official figures show only three inmates, Balwinder Singh alias Bindri of Krishan Nagar (79), Gajjan Singh (72) and Bal Krishan (69) of Madhopuri (48) were "old". All others were between 30 to 40 — Darshan Singh Kala (32) of
Phulawal, Dev (40) of Jassian, Baldev Singh (35), Daljit Singh (42) of Raowal village, Vimal Kumar (30) of Nawan Shahar, Sanjay Kumar (32) and Gurcharan Singh Gogi (40) of Ludhiana. All of them were victims of asthma or sundry infections because of the squalid conditions inside the jail. It is believed that Bal Krishan was often taken to the civil hospital for tests after 2 pm only, a time when staff are rarely available. On July 27, he had been shifted as late as 3 am. He died that very day. Kuldip Singh, superintendent of Ludhiana Central Jail, said the number of deaths was “nothing” given the “huge number of inmates”. He said they do all they can to ensure “best and timely treatment” for inmates, but, at times, there are procedural delays. Singh explained how when an inmate complains of being ill at late hours, it takes some time to shift him. “The keys have to be collected from either me or the deputy superintendent. The barracks are located at some distance from the main gate. Then, we have to arrange for guards to accompany patients. You see, already, 19 guards are posted with six inmates under treatment at Rajindra Hospital in Patiala”. He says they have proposed to the government that a diagnostic laboratory should be set up on jail premises for early detection of ailments in inmates.
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