Superintendent of Mental Health Centre in Kozhikode suspended for negligence in performing duties

The Kerala Health department on Thursday suspended the Superintendent of the government-run Mental Health Centre in Kozhikode for negligence in performing his duties in the wake of an inmate of the institution escaping from there and later dying in a road accident.

The action was taken under the direction of state Health Minister Veena George, a release issued by the department said.

It said that the minister had asked the Director of the Health Department to inquire into the incident, of the inmate escaping and then dying in a road accident, and submit a report.

The report found that the Superintendent of Kuthiravattam Mental Health Centre in Kozhikode was negligent in performing his duties and was indifferent to resolving the recurring problems at the hospital.

The report recommended that he be suspended, the release said.

It said that after examining the matter in detail and considering the recommendation, the government decided to suspend the Superintendent.

The inmate -- Muhammed Infan -- had escaped from the hospital on Monday night in a two-wheeler lifted from the premises and had died in a road accident on Tuesday morning at Kottakkal in Malappuram district.

According to the police, he was presumably fleeing to his native place of Kalpakancherry in the Malappuram district.

Sources at the Kuthiravattam Mental Health Centre had said that the deceased was an accused in several cases and was under judicial remand.

He was shifted to the mental asylum after he started showing symptoms of some psychic problems and was kept under police guard.

Police sources said the inmate had escaped by drilling a hole in the bathroom using some steel device.

There have been many instances of inmates escaping from the Kuthiravattom mental asylum in the recent past. In separate incidents in March this year, a man and a woman inmate escaped. Later the woman was found and brought back.

A woman inmate, a native of Maharashtra, was found dead in February following her alleged clash with another inmate.