Twenty-three female students were injured and taken to hospitals after an incident at a Hyderabad college on Saturday night, with two students admitted to an intensive care unit and parents alleging that the institution failed to inform them promptly.
The injured students were first taken to Pratyusha Hospital, where doctors said they began arriving at around 8 pm. Nine students were later admitted or shifted to other hospitals, including Yashoda Hospital in Malakpet, where two were placed in the ICU and six in the general ward. One student was admitted to a private hospital.
The supplied report does not establish what caused the students to fall or identify the exact location and circumstances of the incident. Parents said all the injured students were female. Male students helped them reach safety and suffered minor injuries, according to the parents.
At Pratyusha Hospital, doctors said nearly 20 students arrived on stretchers, accompanied by hundreds of friends and faculty members. General physician S. Surendra Reddy and Dr Pratyusha said the hospital treated the injured with the resources available and referred students with major injuries or life-threatening conditions to other hospitals.
The doctors said one student who died had suffered a severe head injury. They sutured the wound and stopped the bleeding before referring students requiring further care. Another female student suffered a leg fracture. The remaining patients were treated at Pratyusha Hospital until Sunday morning and were discharged after wardens and representatives arrived to take them back.
The 50-bed Pratyusha Hospital has been operating for six years but does not have a CT scan facility, the doctors said. The absence of on-site scanning meant that students requiring advanced assessment had to be referred to other hospitals.
Parents waiting outside Yashoda Hospital alleged that they did not receive calls from the college management and instead learnt about the injuries through their daughters’ friends. Ramaswamy R., whose daughter Shravya was in the ICU, said she had suffered spinal cord and rib injuries along with a fracture. Doctors advised that she remain under observation for 24 hours, he said.
Another parent, Lalitha P., alleged that injured students were sent from the hostel to their homes and questioned why families had not been informed directly. Sai G., the brother of injured student G. Sushma, said his sister was in the general ward with injuries to her legs and hands and that doctors expected her to be discharged soon.
The parents’ allegations have not been independently verified in the supplied report, and no response from the college management is included. The immediate medical response involved treatment at Pratyusha Hospital, referral of critically injured students to larger hospitals and continued observation of those with serious injuries. Further details about the incident, the institution’s emergency protocol and any official inquiry were not available in the report.
