Deaths at Jalandhar hospital: 15-yr-old Archana wanted to be teacher, died due to doctors’ negligence, says family

Archana (15) — the youngest of the three victims who died due to the snapping of the oxygen supply at the Civil Hospital here — wanted to a be a teacher.

When she was admitted to a school, her mother Meera had vowed that Archana won’t be daily wager like her. But the dream was shattered when the girl’s life was cut short by the tragedy on July 27.

“I can’t sleep. I just keep thinking about my daughter,” said Meera, whose husband Surender Kumar is an e-rickshaw driver. The family lives in a modest house in an obscure corner of Jalandhar, overgrown with grass and weeds.

Archana was a student of Junior Model School at Ladowali Road and her parents had hired a special auto, shelling out Rs 1,200 a month, to ferry their daughter to the school. Archana had two brothers Shivam (18) and Varun (12). On July 17, Archana was bitten by a snake while sleeping and had been critically ill since then.

“Her death definitely happened due to negligence. On the day of her death, Archana was gasping for breath and there were problems with her ventilator pipe. I called the hospital staff several times, they came very late,” she said.

Left shattered, they hope that the suspension of four doctors would serve a warning to the hospital staff, which was “always late” to respond whenever Archana needed their assistance.

“I thank God that at least more patients won’t die like my daughter,” Meera said commenting on action against the doctors. The family also rejected claims of the health authorities, saying no one ever asked them whether they wanted to get a post-mortem done. “We were just given body and told to go home,” she said.

Archana’s brother Shivam said after they returned from the hospital, a phone call came, with an official asking them to appear before a senior officer. “But that was the day of her cremation. We couldn’t go,” he said.

When asked if she wants anything from the government now, Meera says, “I have lost my daughter. Now, my only hope is that the government help in our my sons’ education. They are my only remaining hope.”