AMN / Patna
In another shocking incident, a father of a 9-year-old girl who died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Patna on Tuesday was forced to ferry the body of her dead daughter due to unavailability of ambulance in hospital.
He carried his daughter’s body on his shoulder for nearly four KM to an auto-rickshaw stand at Phulwari Sharif in Patna.
The man, who hailed from a poor family, also alleged that he lost his child as the hospital staff refused to attend to the ailing girl.
Raushan Kumari, suffering from high fever for six days, died allegedly near the Outdoor Patient Department (OPD) of the hospital.
According to reports, the father of the girl Rambalak and his wife, residents of Kajra village in Lakhisarai district, brought their daughter to AIIMS, following which they were directed by the staff to get a registration card made at the OPD counter.
The girl’s condition started to deteriorate as her father waited in the queue to get the card. Rambalak pleaded with people in the queue to allow him to get the formalities completed out of turn but it fell on deaf ears.
His nightmare didn’t end there. He was allegedly denied an ambulance by AIIMS officials to carry her body home. So he carried his daughter’s body on his shoulder for nearly four kilometre to an autorickshaw stand in Phulwari Sharif.
AIIMS Director Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh, however, said he had no information that a critical patient had died due to lack of treatment.
“As far as a ‘parcha’ (registration card) is concerned, doctors treat critical patients without it and later their registration is done. But I will inquire into this case if it has happened,” he said.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav attacked the Nitish Kumar government in the state for the “apathy shown towards the poorest of the poor”. He has demanded a high-level probe into her death.
“Everything has collapsed in Bihar, including law and order, education, and health. The latest incident of the girl’s death at Patna AIIMS vindicates our stand. There is no facility for the poor for treatment — they have been left to die, as happened in this case.”
He also took a dig at Union Minister of State for Health Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who just a few days ago had reportedly suggested that patients from Bihar should be treated at Patna’s AIIMS and not in AIIMS at Delhi.
Mr Choubey’s alleged remark about Biharis “crowding” AIIMS in Delhi even for minor ailments had drawn criticism from opposition parties.