Howrah boy who was denied treatment by 5 hospitals, dies

Kolkata: A 7-year-old boy from Bakhra in Howrah who was admitted to SSKM Hospital during the night of December 2 with high fever after being denied admission by five hospitals including two state-run ones died on Saturday morning.

The victim, Mohammad Ali, had complained of high fever from the morning of December 2 after which his family members took him to a nearby doctor who advised them that the patient required an immediate admission as his condition was serious. The boy's family members acted promptly and took him to Calcutta Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on the evening of the same when some of the staff members of the hospital allegedly told them that the patient needed to be put up in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and all the beds of the ICU were occupied. As the baby was denied admission at the CMCH, his family members took him to the Institute of Child Health at Park Circus where they faced the same situation. The staff members at the emergency ward of the hospital said there was no empty bed in the ICU. The family members of the victim were advised to shift the patient to any other hospital.

The helpless family members then ran from one hospital to the other with the ailing boy for treatment. They took him to a private nursing home in Park Circus and then another private nursing home in Ballygunge and the same story was repeated. At the Park Circus nursing home, the family members were allegedly told that there were no doctors, while in case of the other, the patient's family members got to know that there was no bed in the ICU.

With no alternative left with them, the family members then took the patient to another hospital in Hazra where the victim was again denied admission as there was some renovation going on at the ICU of the hospital.

The patient finally got admission at SSKM Hospital on the night of December 2. He had been undergoing treatment at SSKM for the past one week.

Despite the efforts put in by the doctors, the boy died early on Saturday morning. The patient's family members claimed that he was suffering from dengue. The cause of the death is yet to be confirmed by the hospital.