HYDERABAD: In a tragic case of medical and administrative apathy, a six-year-old child, Baby, from Boduppal succumbed to severe dog bite injuries after almost four hospitals refused to provide her treatment through a five-hour ordeal. Baby, belonging to a Scheduled Tribe family, was outside her house when a pack of dogs mauled her. “She was attacked by five dogs. We used various tactics to make them leave her. As she was bleeding profusely, we first rushed her to a nearby private hospital,” said Holi, her father, who is a daily-wage labourer.
However, the parents were asked to take her to another hospital. The anxious family then took her to two more private hospitals, where the girl was denied treatment. Ultimately, they reached the Fever Hospital at Nallakunta, where she was referred to Niloufer Hospital. While it remains unclear if the treatment was refused by private hospitals for want of a Covid-19 test or because of the severe nature of the injuries, the bereaved father said at all the hospitals, the doctors asked for “tests”.
“The girl was brought dead to the hospital. There was nothing we could do. So we shifted the body to Osmania mortuary where further investigations would be taken up,” said a senior official from Niloufer Hospital, who did not want to be named. Meanwhile, a senior official of the Boduppal Municipal Corporation, when contacted, said they would take up animal birth control en masse and offer a compensation to the family. “It’s high time that the stray dog menace ends in the city. We informed the district collector to look into the matter. However, they gave us a very cold response,” said Achyuta Rao, a member of Balala Hakkula Sangham.
Medical apathy
The girl’s parents had to run from one hospital to another and the entire process took about five hours. When she was finally brought to Niloufer, she was declared brought dead