Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Aug 8 (IANS): In a case of criminal negligence, the staff of the district government hospital in Madhya Pradesh's Morena failed to notice the death of a patient till his body began decomposing and ants began nibbling on it.

The 35-year-old, disabled Devendra Verma allegedly lay dead on the hospital bed with ants gnawing his wounds throughout Wednesday night. The hospital staff came to know about the death only on Thursday morning after other patients in the ward complained about the smell.

Verma, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad, had turned unresponsive on Wednesday night. The next morning, the patients in his ward woke up to a foul smell and reported the matter to medical staff. The doctors, in turn, passed on the information of his death to police around 8 a.m. on Thursday.

Civil Surgeon, Dr Ashok Gupta admitted the hospital staff did not know when Verma actually died. However, the nursing staff of the ward said that they had informed him about the deteriorating condition of the patient. "We suggested that he be shifted to Gwalior, the divisional headquarters, for better health care, but to no avail," one of them said.

Gupta said that he came to know about Verma's death on Thursday morning, but admitted that he probably died earlier.

"When he was admitted to the hospital, police were informed about it, but they couldn't find his kin. His relatives reached the hospital only after the news of his death went viral.

"Verma, who was physically challenged, was admitted in the hospital on July 21 by someone. Later on we came to know about his sister, staying in Ganeshpura area in Gwalior town," Gupta said.

Verma, who used to eke out a living by working in eateries, had a wound on his back with ants over it, he said, adding that the injury was discovered after his death.

Police said that they have registered a case and investigations are on.