Dipanjali Sinha. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Aug. 10: Dipanjali Sinha has already missed three years of school because of alleged misdiagnosis and is now at the threat of missing more classes.

The 10-year-old’s parents have been making rounds of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kankerbagh, since October last year for getting her admitted to Class V. Dipanjali studied in the central school when as a Class III student she was under high temperature in August 2010. Her father, Yogendra Kumar who runs a general store, took her to paediatrician A.K. Jaiswal.

“He prescribed her some medicines and the fever went down, but rashes started appearing on the body. When we took her to the doctor again, he said it was chicken pox. He added some more medicines to the prescription but her condition did not improve. Her eyes started reddening and were almost closed under the rashes. Jaiswal referred her to Patna Medical College and Hospital but we took her to another paediatrician, Utpal Kant Singh in September,” said Yogendra.

Jaiswal said he had suggested Yogendra to consult a dermatologist.

Singh diagnosed Dipanjali of suffering from Stevens-Johnson syndrome. He advised her to be admitted to his nursing home.

Stevens-Johnson syndrome affects the skin and usually begins with fever, sore throat, and fatigue with the conditions being treated with antibiotics.

With various treatments, including eye surgeries, over the past two years, doctors declared her fit to join school last October. Ten months down the line, Yogendra and his homemaker-wife Nita Verma are still doing rounds of Dipanjali’s old school.

Yogendra alleged the principal — who has left the school since — gave excuses about not meeting the family delaying Dipanjali’s chances at re-admission. On different instances, the principal asked the parents to come a few days later or said the decision to take Dipanjali back in the school had to be taken by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, the administrator of Kendriya Vidyalayas in the country.

Meeting the new principal who joined two months ago also did not help the parents.

Kendriya Vidyalaya, Kankerbagh, principal Sudhakar Singh told The Telegraph: “If the regional office permits, the school will admit the child. But I joined the school this June and do not know much about the matter.”

Sources said the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights around four days ago sent the school a copy of the complaint filed by Yogendra last month and asked for a reply to it.