THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: TENSION prevailed in front of the district hospital at Nedumangad after the relatives of a four-year-old boy, who died allegedly due to medical negligence, demanded the intervention of the District Medical Officer(DMO) in the police inquest here on Tuesday.
Sivanand, son of Saji and Renju, of Manja, Nedumangad, was admitted to the hospital on Monday night with high fever. The boy was discharged by the hospital authorities as they diagnosed nothing serious. They had also prescribed medication. However, on Tuesday morning, the boy developed high fever and collapsed in his residence. He was rushed to the hospital by his parents and the hospital authorities declared him ‘dead on arrival’ around 9 am. The relatives alleged that the medicines given by the doctors in the hospital led to the boy’s death.
When the police tried to assuage the situation, the relatives demanded that the an inquest be conducted in the presence of the DMO or the Revenue Divisional Officer. The tumult was brought under control by noon after the DMO and Thahsildar came for the police inquest.
The crowd was dispersed by the police after the inquest was completed. The body of the deceased has been shifted to the Medical College mortuary for postmortem.
The body will be handed over to the relatives on Wednesday. According to police, no case has been registered against anyone as no untoward incident was recorded during the commotion.
“We can’t confirm that this was a case of medical negligence as no corroborating evidence have been received. Besides, the boy didn’t died during the course of treatment, but was brought dead. But we will investigate if the parents file a formal complaint”, said D Shibu, Nedumangad SI.