Sisodia orders inquiry into refusal to admit dengue patient

The inquiry would go into the refusal by five private hospitals to admit Avinash Rout, whose death was followed by the tragic suicide of his parents, a statement from the Delhi government said. 

Sisodia instructed the divisional commissioner of Delhi to depute the local sub-divisional magistrate to conduct the probe and submit a report to the Delhi government within seven days, the statement added.

The director general of health services has already issued show cause notices to five private hospitals of South Delhi — Moolchand Khairati Ram Hospital, Max Superspeciality Hospital in Saket, Akash Arogya Mandir in Malviya Nagar, Saket City Hospital and Irene Hospital in Kalkaji - under the provisions of the Delhi Nursing Homes Registration Act, 1953, it added.

The statement said Sisodia directed it to be ascertained in the probe that when there were specific instructions issued to all hospitals of Delhi - whether government or private - that patients suffering from dengue should not be denied admission in hospitals citing lack of beds, then why and how the treatment was denied to the boy. The inquiry should cover the responsibility of hospitals, particularly those concerned with admissions and treatment, it added. The Deputy Chief Minister also directed that the probe should recommend specific remedial actions to prevent recurrence of such tragic incidents. 

Meanwhile, Sisodia issued mandatory directions to all schools of Delhi to ensure that children come dressed in full-sleeved shirts, trousers and salwar kameez for the next one month as a preventive measure to avoid mosquito bites.

The move comes in the wake of dengue assuming alarming proportions in the city, with at least 1,872 cases of the vector-borne disease being reported this year till this month, and five official deaths because of it. He directed the schools to allow children to wear full-sleeved shirts of any colour, irrespective of whether it is the school uniform or not.