A health official dismissed as false reports that a man died at a government hospital in Chhattisgarh's Koriya district after being bitten by ants.

The unidentified man died at the district hospital at Baikunthpur, located around 350 kms away from Raipur, on July 9. Baikunthpur is the headquarter of Koriya district. As per reports, the man was purportedly lying unattended at the hospital with ants swarming over his wounds before his death.

Koriya Chief Health Medical Officer (CHMO) SK Paikara told PTI, "The patient was shifted to Baikunthpur recently with serious injuries on his head. He was in semi-conscious condition and being treated properly. But nobody was accompanying him and therefore, he was not being cleaned properly."

He said the lack of proper cleaning might have attracted ants and flies to the patient. "However, the report that he died after being bitten by ants is false," Paikara said. He said the post-mortem had been conducted and the report was awaited. The exact cause of the death would be known in the report. As per media reports, the man was recently spotted lying unconscious, with grievous injuries, outside a government hospital in Manendragarh town of the district.

Manendragarh MLA Shyam Bihari Jaiswal of BJP had reportedly asked the hospital staff to admit him. As per reports, the man was subsequently shifted to the district hospital in Baikunthpur but he died because he was not given proper treatment. Ants were reportedly seen crawling over wounds of the man before his death. When contacted, state Health and Family Welfare Minister Ajay Chandrakar denied knowledge of the matter and said he had asked authorities concerned to provide details so that further action can be taken.

The opposition Congress termed the incident as "inhuman" and demanded resignation of the health minister. "The incident reflects the pathetic state of healthcare in the state. Strong action should be taken against those responsible," said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, head of Congress' state communication wing. "The Raman Singh government should be ashamed that a patient died after being bitten by ants in the hospital. It is horrible that no doctors or medical staff there attended him and left him to die," he alleged.