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Another minor girl dies of ‘dengue’ in Ludhiana, kin blame hospital
ESIC hospital says family couldn’t arrange platelets
The family members of a 13-year-old girl accused the ESIC Model Hospital near Bharat Nagar Chowk of medical negligence after the child died of suspected dengue fever on Tuesday night.
The victim, Priyanka, a resident of Sector 39A, Chandigarh Road, was a Class 7 student. This is the fifth suspected dengue death in the city this year.
The family members staged a protest at the hospital for two hours, before they gathered outside when the victim was being taken to a private hospital in an ambulance. However, the police intervened and pacified the protesters.
Priyanka’s parents said the ESIC hospital had not given proper medical treatment to the girl due to which they lost their daughter.
Nikesh, the victim’s cousin, said the girl had fever two days ago but had recovered after getting medicine from a private clinic in the area. A day after, she started vomiting and again had fever, following which we admitted her to a private hospital which suggested to take her to the ESIC hospital as the victim’s father, a factory worker, had an ESIC card. We admitted her at the hospital around 10am on Tuesday, but she did not receive proper medication till the evening,” he said.
He added, “Her health kept deteriorating, but despite repeated requests, the doctors did not tend to her. When we raised our voice, they referred the girl to another private hospital, where she was declared dead.”
However, ESIC hospital medical superintendent Dr Madhu Gupta said, “The victim’s platelets were reduced to a just 20,000 when she was admitted. When the family members were asked to arrange platelets, they were not able to. There was no negligence on our part.”
The family had cremated the girl on Wednesday without conducting a postmortem.
