Family members of medical negligence victim Mariam Kausar (3) have written to Chief Minister Siddaramiah requesting that the government move the child to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore for further treatment.
In a letter, the family has asked the state to bear the medical expenses of Mariam, who was allegedly administered an overdose of anaesthesia by doctors at the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedic Hospital.
Stating that the child has been receiving treatment at Malathi Manipal Hospital in the city for over five months, B S Rafiulla, Mariam’s uncle, said medical expenses had gone beyond `16 lakh. “The middle-class family is now under debts. To ensure that the child is fine, they have even sold their house,” he said.
Rafiulla alleged that no government official had bothered to check on the child’s condition. “A charge-sheet has been filed against four doctors and they are out on bail,” he said.
The family had earlier approached the Human Rights Commission and is still awaiting a response. “There was a meeting in February. There has been no communication after that,” he added.
Even five months after the incident, Mariam continues to remain in the ICU. After she suffered hypoxia due to an overdose of anaesthesia that she was administered, Mariam was in a critical condition. She has undergone two surgeries so far.
Docs in the dock
The government suspended the heads of the orthopaedics and anaesthesiology departments at Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics after they were found guilty of medical negligence. The inquiry committee also found four doctors negligent.