Patna: A six-year-old girl suffering from severe heart problems died after her family were compelled to make rounds of a major government hospital with an oxygen cylinder in hand — the second such incident in the past fortnight.
The incident took place on Thursday at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in Patna, the capital of Bihar state.
As per reports, Puja Kumari, daughter of Jitendra Das from Arwal district in central Bihar, was admitted to the paediatric ward of the PMCH on Wednesday. During her medical check-up, the doctors diagnosed her with water in the lung.
On Thursday morning, the seriously ill child was referred to the Indira Gandhi Institute of cardiology for a proper check-up. Subsequently, the patient was fitted with an oxygen mask but as a stretcher was denied, the family walked on foot, carrying the child and with the oxygen cylinder in their hands, but she died midway.
According to the girl’s family members, they were locked in a room soon after the death and “I was forced to sign on register for handing the body of my child,” the girl’s mother Lilawati Devi alleged.
The hospital administration has ordered an investigation into the matter but said the victim died due to her serious condition. “We have been told the condition of the girl was serious when she was admitted to the hospital and [she] was having severe respiratory problem,” PMCH principal Dr Vijay Kumar Gupta told the media on Friday.
Last fortnight, a seriously-ailing two-month-old baby fitted with oxygen cylinder was allegedly denied a stretcher, as a result of which the family members had to carry him in their arms. The baby collapsed eventually. The incident took place at the same hospital.
The baby died even before the authorities could submit a probe report to the government, which ordered an investigation after the photograph of the baby being carried by his grandfather Rambabu Prasad with other kin holding the oxygen cylinder had gone viral on social media.
