Four prisoners undergoing treatment for COVID-19 have gone missing from the prison ward of the state-run Gandhi Hospital here early Thursday. The four prisoners—two undertrials and two convicts–from the city-based Cherlapally Central Prison, were admittedto the hospital over the past 15 days, after they tested positive for coronavirus, police said.
All the four are missing from the prison ward of the hospital. They are suspected to be within the hospital premises.
"Searches are underway in different floors of the hospital… They bent the iron rods of washroom window and climbed down using bedsheets at around 2 am.. We are checking the wards and also trying to find out if they jumped over from the compound of the hospital," a senior police official said.
As of now they are missing from the prison ward, which is located onsecond floor of the hospital, he said adding "We are suspecting that they may be inside (the hospital premises)only… So far we did not find any clues that they jumped the wall and got outside." Every person at the hospital's entry and exit point is captured by the CCTV camera and the four prisoners did notleave the building, he said. The entire corridor of the prison ward, where currently 29 prisoners,including the four missing are taking treatment has been cordoned off by locking the entry and exit points.
More than 1,000 coronavirus patients are currently undergoing treatment at the Gandhi Hospital in different wards. Apart from the patients in ICU, those who are under isolation and observation move from between different floors of the hospital, the official noted.
A prison ward has been created in the Gandhi Hospital to lodge such prisoners infected with the virus.
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