Death due to cholera: Panchkula Civil Hospital accused of negligence

Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 15

The father of the 9-year-old boy from Abheypur, who died of cholera following the consumption of contaminated water, has accused the Civil Hospital here of negligence.

Anil Kumar said after his son Arpit developed symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, he took him to the Civil Hospital in Sector 6 around 4 am on Wednesday. The doctors at the hospital discharged him on the same day around 11 am after giving some medication, he claimed.

Kumar alleged that doctors discharged his son before he was stable and on reaching home his health worsened.

“The doctor who was working in the night treated my son well but the one who took over around 8 am discharged him despite his condition being far from normal. Thereafter, around 2 pm, my son went numb. I rushed him to the hospital but he was already dead,” Kumar said while asking others to “not take their loved ones to Civil Hospital for treatment” and rather approach a private hospital.

Mala, another Abheypur resident, shared a similar story.

“After my son developed symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea, we admitted him to the Civil Hospital in Sector 6. They (doctors) administered him a couple of glucose bottles and left him in a terrible condition. After his legs and arms started going numb, we took him to a private hospital for better treatment. He is stable now,” said Mala.

Refuting the allegations, Civil Surgeon Dr Mukta Kumar said: “The victim’s condition had improved following infusion of intravenous (IV) fluid, he could stand up with no difficultly. He was examined in the paediatric OPD.”

“After assessing his medical condition, the doctors on duty discharged him,” she added.

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