Uttar Pradesh: Among the various other stories of appalling apathy of medical officers, comes the tragedy of the 12 year old Ansh who died on his father’s shoulder as the latter ran to another child ward after being denied admission at a government hospital.
Sunil Kumar alleged that his son had high fever since last week and was directed to the government hospital Hallet in Kanpur when taken to the local clinic. But Kumar waited at the emergency ward for 30 minutes before he was told to take the boy to the children’s ward around 250m away from the building. No stretcher was provided and the boy wasn’t even examined before being carelessly asked to clear out.
“I begged doctors at the emergency to examine my son and admit him. They took 30 minutes before telling me to take the kid to the children’s hospital. Even then I ran to the hospital. It took me nine minutes….how could he be dead in nine minutes?” Kumar said sobbing.
The Hallet hospital officials in turn took a defensive stand saying that the child was dead even before the father had brought him to the hospital. “We admitted him. We found that there was no heart rate, no pulse, and the pupils were fixated and dilated. We could tell from his condition that he died two to three hours before being brought in,” said Dr RC Gupta, the chief medical officer of the hospital.
Whether it was the fault of the father or the despicable state of the healthcare in our country, this tragedy has shaken the already unstable belief in the system. Furthermore, Uttar Pradesh health minister Ravidas Mehrotra commented on the situation as: “Whoever is guilty will not be spared.“
