Times of India
08 July 2010
Hyderabad, India

In an alarming incident that reflects the dangers of indiscriminate use of medicine without prescription, a pushcart vendor who was suffering from a headache died after a medical shop worker gave him a tablet, in S R Nagar on Wednesday.

According to SR Nagar inspector P Krishna Murthy, the tea vendor, D Rama Kotaiah, who had been selling tea in front of the medical shop, Lavanya Sai Balaji Medicare at Subhash Nagar, went to the shop complaining of headache at around 11.30 am.

A worker at the medical shop gave him a tablet without prescription. The tea vendor swallowed the tablet and immediately collapsed in front of the medical shop. Instead of taking him to a doctor, the person, who was shaken with the turn of events, administered an injection to the tea vendor, police said.

He then tried to take him to hospital on his two-wheeler, but the tea vendor breathed his last. He left the victim on the road, closed the shop and fled from the spot, the inspector added.

A case was registered under section 304 A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on the complaint lodged by the victim’s wife, D Sujatha, the police officer said.