Ambulance arrives 3 hrs late, infant dies in mother's lap in MP's Datia

Bhopal, April 28 (IANS) The death of a severally ill infant in lap of its mother at a Community Health Centre (CHC), allegedly due to unavailability of ambulance on Thursday, has exposed the state of public health services once again in Madhya Pradesh.

The incident occurred at  Indergarh community CHC in Datia district.

According to reports, a Scheduled Caste woman Renu Jatav, a resident of Baderi village, rushed her severely ill six-months-old child to the Indergarh CHC at around 11 a.m. on Thursday. As the baby was suffering from symptoms of acute pneumonia, the doctors present at CHC referred the child to the Datia District Hospital after preliminary treatment.

The mother kept waiting for '108 Ambulance' for over three hours while doctors repeatedly made phone calls. What was more shocking was that there were already two ambulances (funded out of the MLA Local Area Development Fund) parked at the CHC, but the service was denied to the mother as she couldn’t afford to pay for it.

After repeated phone calls, 108 ambulance arrived after three hours, but until then, the infant had died. The mother of the deceased child blamed inadequate facility at the CHC and delay in ambulance for her child’s death.

Taking cognizance of the matter, a team headed by the Sub Divisional Magistrate, district’s Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO), local police station in-charge and tehsildar were sent by Datia Collector to the Indergarh CHC on Friday to investigate the incident. The team recorded statements of all stakeholders of Thursday’s incident. Based on the recorded statements of all stakeholders, the enquiry team will fix responsibility for the alleged negligence.

When asked about delay in arrival of 108 Ambulance, Datia district CMHO Dr R. B. Kurele said: "There is clear cut government protocol to first call on priority the free 108 Ambulance at the earliest for patient. The other ambulances are operated by the Patient Welfare Committee on a no profit no loss basis. But in case of emergencies or serious patients, such ambulances too must be provided free of cost." He added that further probe is underway as the statements of the woman, whose child died, are yet to be recorded.

"Whoever is found responsible for the alleged negligence will face strict action," he said.

Disclaimer: This story has not been edited by the Sakshi Post team and is auto-generated from syndicated feed.