Denied dengue treatment, child dies, parents end life

New Delhi: The Delhi government issued show-cause notices to five private hospitals in South Delhi for their alleged refusal to admit a seven-year-old boy suffering from dengue, who later died. After the tragic incident, the parents of the boy committed suicide leaving behind a note.

It was found that the parents committed suicide by jumping from a four-storey building in South Delhi’s Lado Sarai. The deceased were identified as Laxmichandra and Babita Rout, natives of Odisha, said DCP (South) Prem Nath, adding that the couple left behind a one-page suicide note in Odia in which they wrote that “it is nobody’s fault” and that “the decision” was theirs.

The couple’s only son, Avinash, died of suspected dengue on September 8 after allegedly being denied admission at two prominent private hospitals the previous day. Taking cognisance, state health minister Satyendra Jain has ordered issuance of show-cause notices to the two hospitals, a senior government official said.

The show-cause notice clearly states: “All hospitals are to ensure that patients suffering from dengue fever are not denied admission due to lack of beds.” The Centre has also ordered an inquiry. Union health minister J.P. Nadda said the “guilty will not be spared”.