Chennai: As the delay in the ambulance for seven hours claimed the life of 16-year-old Sarika at the Kancheepuram government hospital, authorities have begun an inquiry in the case. The negligence by the hospital authorities and ambulance service providers have been taken on record and it is suspected from the initial findings that the hospital personnel are facing suspension.
Sarika (16) was suffering from chronic kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis every week at Kancheepuram government hospital. However, as her condition deteriorated, she was admitted to the hospital’s inpatient ward last week.
Parents of the girl claim that as Sarika became critical around 12 noon, she was referred to Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital in Chennai. “Though the hospital had 2 ambulances drivers remained unavailable as it was a Sunday. When we reached out to 108-ambulance service, the calls were unattended and there was no feedback response also. Moreover, they shifted Sarika from intensive care unit to general ward to make a place for some VIP patient”, alleged V Nagaraj, Sarika’s uncle.
Though the ambulances could have been pooled in from other district hospitals in case of urgency, 108 service providers failed to do so until Sarika’s father Anandan contacted the Kancheepuram district collector P. Ponnaiah, after which the ambulance arrived in five minutes, at 7 pm. The district collector had promised an immediate probe in the case and DMS has taken direct inquiry into the case.
Director of Medical Services Dr Enbasekaran said that the doctors, nurses, hospital superintendent and ambulance staff in-charge have been questioned regarding the negligence in the treatment of the deceased.
Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan assured of severe action after the completion of the inquiry. “The issue has been taken very seriously and medical reports will be analysed to find out the reason for her death. 108 service providers are also being questioned regarding the unavailability of vehicles for around seven hours”, he said.
However, Sarika’s relatives claim that the inquiry is proceeding in a biased way as the officials did not contact the girl’s family and might only present the case from the side of the hospital authorities. The inquiry report will be submitted to the health secretary regarding the case within next two days.
