LUCKNOW: Despite paediatricians being present in full attendance, a four-day-old baby girl died for want of treatment after falling victim to the laggard insensitiveness of shirking doctors who kept on sending the infant’s parents back and forth from one department to another in a state-run hospital in Bareilly on Wednesday.
The sheer negligence of doctors prompted CM Yogi Adityanath to order suspension of the hospital’s Chief Medical Superintendent (CMS) on late Wednesday night. He also initiated a departmental inquiry against the head of women’s wing of the hospital on Thursday.
Moreover, acting on the complaint of victim’s parents, Bareilly DM VK Singh also ordered a magisterial probe into the issue. The DM has even sent his initial report over the incident to CM Yogi underlining carelessness of health department.
As per the infant’s family, they were made to run from one wing of the Maharana Pratap Jila Sanyukt Chikitsalaya to another for more than three hours taking the ailing infant in lap resulting in her death. The reports said that the infant named Urvashi, who was born at a private hospital on June 15, developed difficulty in breathing after which her parents brought her to the government hospital in Bareilly.
Infant’s father Yogendra Pal of Gokilpur village under Wisharatganj police station area claimed that as he along with his mother-in-law Kusumi reached outpatient department (OPD) of the hospital where paediatrician Dr SS Chauhan examined his daughter. He referred the baby to the adjoining women’s hospital, some 500 meters away, that houses a Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU).
At SNCU, Dr Saurabh turned them away back to the OPD on the pretext of non-availability of bed for the ailing kid. When Yogendra returned to OPD, the doctor asked him to take the child to the women’s hospital again. On his suggestion, Yogendra decided to return to the women’s hospital but by the time they reached the child was dead.
On coming to know about the incident, CM Yogi Adityanath ordered the suspension of Dr Kamlendra Swaroop Gupta, the chief medical superintendent (CMS) of the men’s wing of the hospital, with immediate effect on charges of negligence of duty. A departmental inquiry was ordered against women’ wing CMS Dr Alka Sharma.
“I have ordered suspension of CMS of Male Hospital Bareilly on the negligence of duty and have ordered for departmental proceedings against CMS of Women Hospital. Any insensitivity by government officials will not be tolerated in #NewUP,” tweeted the CM late on Wednesday night.
“The action was taken after a critically sick child was brought to Male Hospital, where sufficient paediatricians were available, but instead of stabilising the child and giving due treatment, he turned family away to Women Hospital. CMS of Women Hospital referred child back,” he said in the next tweet.
According to Dr Sharma, women's’ wing in charge, there were only four beds in female hospital and all were occupied by eight kids. As the beds were not vacant so she sent the infant to male wing for admission, said Dr Sharma. On the other the suspended CMS Dr KS Gupta tried to hide behind the lame excuse that patient’s parents did not come back to the OPD after being turned away from SNCU unit over non-availability of bed.