Patna: Two of the city's premier hospitals are passing the buck over the death of a six-year old girl, whose picture in her father's arms with a relative carrying the oxygen cylinder helping her breathe went viral on Friday.
The picture is from Thursday, before Pooja died because of cardiac complications while being shifted from Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) to Indira Gandhi Institute of Cardiology (IGIC).
The tragedy underlines once again how cardiac emergency patients in Bihar often do not get proper treatment as government hospitals lack functional cardiology units.
Even the biggest government hospital in the state, PMCH, doesn't have a cardiology unit and doctors are forced to refer patients to the nearby IGIC after providing them basic aid.
The PMCH authorities claimed that when Pooja, 6, was taken to IGIC on Wednesday, the IGIC authorities didn't admit the child citing lack of senior doctors on night duty.
IGIC authorities claimed that PMCH doctors had approached them at night for admitting the child but finally didn't turn up.
As a controversy erupted over the picture of Pooja, daughter of Arwal resident Jitendra Das, PMCH authorities denied allegations that Pooja had not been provided with a stretcher or e-trolley.
According to the doctors at PMCH, Pooja was admitted there on Wednesday because she was earlier refused treatment by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) due to paucity of beds. She was suffering from pericardial effusion (fluid accumulation around the heart).
"We had referred Pooja to IGIC same day she was taken here at PMCH because the child was suffering from cardiac complications and we don't have a cardiology unit at the hospital," said PMCH superintendent Dr Deepak Tandon. "However, on Wednesday night, when Pooja was taken to IGIC, her parents were asked to bring her next (Thursday) morning again because there was no senior doctor to take care of her. The girl died on Thursday morning on her way to IGIC. Nobody is questioning IGIC about why they didn't admit her on Wednesday night itself. All are questioning PMCH about why it didn't provide stretcher or e-trolley to the girl child on Thursday when she was on her way to IGIC. Is it not hypocrisy?
"How can IGIMS and IGIC refuse cardiac patients when they happen to be the only state-run hospitals for poor cardiac patients? PMCH does not have facility for cardiac emergency patients but we do admit patients with cardiac ailments due to humanity," added Tandon.
IGIC director Dr S.S. Chatterjee, however, said that a junior PMCH doctor named Rajesh had called up him on Wednesday night citing the condition of a six-year-old-girl who needed to be admitted at IGIC because of cardiac problems.
"I told the junior doctor from PMCH that I would get back to him after speaking to the doctor on duty at my hospital," Chatterjee said. "I spoke to Dr R.B. Lal at my hospital, after which I again called up Dr Rajesh and asked him to bring the child to IGIC. Next morning when I asked Dr Lal, he informed me that the patient was not brought at the hospital. I personally called up Dr Rajesh and asked him why he had not brought the child to which he had said that the child was not in a condition to be brought. I was not told the name of the child."
PMCH superintendent Tandon said he had constituted a probe committee to check whether there was any medical negligence in the treatment of Pooja and whether she was provided with proper assistance, including an e-trolley or stretcher, while on her way to IGIC. The committee will submit its report within three days. PMCH is not the only hospital running without a proper cardiology unit. Posts of cardiologist in government medical college hospitals are lying vacant for a long time, resulting in lack of proper care for heart patients during the "golden hour", the most essential minutes for saving lives in cardiac emergency cases.
