Two days after UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav claimed that his government had put health services back on rails, a shocking incident in Ballia exposed the hollowness of his claims.
A seven-month-old baby, Ajay, died in a government hospital on Wednesday after being administered an injection by a rickshaw-puller.
Ajay was suffering from septicaemia and was critically ill.
The surgeon treating him had recommended a dose of a life-saving drug “Primacord” and had asked the pharmacist to administer it.
The pharmacist allegedly passed on the job to Raju, a rickshaw-puller, who does odd jobs at the hospital, including ferrying dead bodies.
Raju, the rickshaw-puller, who has been jailed in the past for petty theft, told reporters that he had been coming to the hospital for 15-20 years.
“I can administer injections and give antibiotics prescribed by the doctors,” he said.
According to a complaint filed by the child’s family, the incident took place this morning when the accused, allegedly in an inebriated state, administered an injection to the baby, causing his death.
In a video clip made on a mobile phone, the rickshaw-puller is seen injecting a child but the chief medical superintendent of the hospital, K.P. Singh, denied that the visuals were of the same baby who had died.
However, he did not deny the fact that a rickshaw-puller was giving injections, which may have caused the baby’s death.
ASP K.C. Goswami said that an inquiry had been ordered into the complaint and additional district magistrate K.P. Singh has been asked to probe the charges and submit his report to the district magistrate.
Meanwhile, the police spokesman said that cases have been registered against the rickshaw-puller, doctor on duty and two others.
This is the same hospital, where last year, a sweeper was caught on camera stitching up the wounds of a child.
The doctor on duty at the emergency ward had been suspended at the time.