Lucknow: Rehab centre kids’ deaths raise questions about past cases
Four orphans with special needs died from dehydration and diarrhea in Lucknow, raising concerns over hygiene and negligence at their shelter home.
For the second year in a row, a group of orphans with special needs from the Nirvan Rajkiya Bal Grih Visheshikrit in Lucknow have landed in hospital with symptoms of severe dehydration, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Four children have died at three different hospitals, raising concerns about the hygiene and sanitation at the facility.
Dr Rajeev Dixit, chief medical superintendent of Lok Bandhu Hospital, where the majority of the children are still being treated, said, “This happened last year as well, when almost 20 children from this shelter came in with symptoms of dehydration and diarrhoea. The first time, there were no deaths recorded.”
This is not the only red flag raised about this particular organisation in the past.
Security measures were under the lens after two girls managed to run away from the premises earlier this month.
Shelter home staff Preeti Mishra had said at the time that the girls, aged 14 and 16, were hearing impaired and mentally disabled, and had run away with a ladder fashioned out of bricks.
Their escape was not captured on CCTV cameras, which raised questions as to why the children were able to find a dark spot without surveillance coverage and escape. Later, the Para police, after registering a missing case, rescued both girls from Rajasthan within a week.
A senior police officer, who did not wish to be named, said there have been multiple complaints of negligence towards children in the past.
Para station house officer Suresh Singh said, “After a departmental enquiry, if someone is found guilty, then on the basis of the complaint, an FIR will be registered.”
Vikas Kumar Pandey, assistant commissioner of Police, Krishna Nagar who visited Lok Bandhu Hospital, said, “Even though police have no role so far in taking action, but will do so in case of any complaint being filed.”
A worker at the Nirvana shelter, who preferred anonymity, said, “There had been a problem with the sewage system in the past, which has been a consistent concern over time.”
He added that he cannot comment on whether the same had a part to play in the children falling sick, given that the initial impression of their symptoms pointed to food poisoning.
He also shared, “There have been complaints of negligence about the superintendent in the past, which were not adequately investigated.”
A report of a case from 2019 has also come to light, wherein a child’s death was supposedly covered up by the authorities, without informing the Child Welfare Committee or the Women and Child Development Department, after she got burnt by a heater on the premises.
Sangeeta Sharma, CWC member at the time also confirmed, that the CWC had received no intimation of the child’s death.
According to Archana Singh, who was part of the team that went for the first few inspections after the illness and hospitalisations began, no new arrangements for daily food have been made, once the produce was checked for quality.
She said, “We checked all the packaged foods for expiry dates, they were all up to date. The water source was checked and consequently cleaned, as it could be the source of some infection,” she said.
“As far as we know, the government boys’ shelter is right next door, and shares the same water source and the same food is consumed by the staff as well. Therefore, further probe is required to find out the root cause of so many children’s health failing together,” she added.
However, no such cases have emerged at the boys’ shelter as yet.
Archana Singh oversees the Asha Jyoti Kendra for women at Lok Bandhu Hospital, under the Women and Child Development Department, and is frequently called upon to inspect other government shelters.
While some children have been treated and discharged, a majority of the children are still admitted at Lok Bandhu Hospital. A handful of them are at Balrampur Hospital and King George’s Medical University.
Chief medical superintendent of Lok Bandhu Hospital Dr Rajeev Dixit said, “The children have all been stabilised, we are only completing a full panel of tests on them to determine if there are any causes for concern.”
