Patient dies after jumping off hospital building

A patient died at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) early yesterday, after she jumped off a three-storey building of the hospital.

Jesmin Ara (27), from Bagmara upazila, had been suffering from mental health issues that were triggered by a rare autoimmune disease, said Dr Saiful Ferdous, a deputy director of the hospital.

Jesmin was admitted to the hospital on November 13. She was receiving treatment under Associate Professor Md Mahbubur Rahman Khan of internal medicine department.

She was diagnosed with Lupus, which made her suffer through immense pain and inflammation all over her body, Mahbubur said.

Lupus is a disease that  prompts the body’s immune system to attack the body itself. There is currently no cure for the disease. Patients are treated by suppressing the symptoms.

“Under these circumstances, we all try to keep a watch on the patient, as their behaviour is likely to be irrational,” he said.

Jesmin’s husband Asadul Islam said she was admitted to ward 38, which is located on the top floor of the three-storey building.

Asadul saw Jesmin for the last time at midnight. She had asked him to go to sleep as he hadn’t slept for the last three nights while staying beside her.

He then went out of the hospital, asking Jesmin’s aunt Guljan Begum to be with her.

Quoting Guljan, Asadul said Jesmin had asked Guljan to go to sleep around 1:30am. After sleeping for three hours, Guljan woke up to find that Jesmin was not in the room.

Guljan then noticed the door of the hospital’s balcony was open. After looking down from the balcony, she saw Jesmin’s body lying in a pool of blood on the ground.

“She bore a fatal head injury, which we think was from the fall,” said Shahadat Hossain Khan, officer-in-charge of Rajpara Police Station.

Her body was sent to the hospital’s morgue for autopsy.