Pune: Vinayak Chaudhari became inconsolable when he heard that his four-month-old daughter lost her battle against congenital heart defect on Thursday.
Young Gautami was admitted to the city-based KEM Hospital and Research Centre on May 4, following which she was advised a surgery.
However, her father Vinayak alleged that the hospital administration delayed the surgery due to lack of funds and the negligent attitude of the staff led to the death of the child.
Chaudhari told Sakal Times that his family was trying to collect Rs 3 lakh from May 14 to May 17.
“The funds were deposited at the hospital on May 17, but the hospital administration took a week’s time to operate on the girl. Moreover, while moving the baby on Thursday morning from the ICU to the operation theatre (OT), the staff took the girl off the ventilator. She was reported dead as soon as she was taken inside the OT,” said Chaudhari.
He said that as he is a labourer, the task of collecting the funds was tedious. “I was made to take several rounds of the health department of the PMC by the hospital administration to avail concessional schemes for the surgery. The amount quoted by the hospital is huge and a lot of friends chipped in to raise funds as the hospital said that the surgery would not happen until the money was paid,” said Chaudhari.
Speaking about the child’s condition, Dr Srinivas Kini, a paediatric cardiologist, who was supposed to operate the girl, said that the girl was brought to the OT in a very bad condition.
“The girl was doing okay on Wednesday afternoon when I checked her. Hence, we gave a go-ahead for the surgery. However, this (Thursday) morning when she was brought to the OT, she was not doing very well. She suffered a cardiac arrest and we could not revive her for an hour. So, broke the unfortunate news to the parents,” said Dr Kini.
He further mentioned that the equipment that was needed for the surgery could have been bought in one day. “I had shared all the dealer details with the hospital. However, the procurement procedure of the hospital took time,” said Kini.
However, denying the allegations, Dr VL Yemul, Medical Administrator of the KEM Hospital, said that the girl died of cardiac arrest.
“The condition of the girl was critical since the day she was admitted to our hospital. Hence, she was at the ICU for better care. Our staff has taken full care of the girl. However, on the way to OT, the girl suffered a heart attack and was declared dead by the surgeon. Our staff is not responsible for this unfortunate event,” said Dr Yemul.
Police plaint lodged
Father of the deceased girl Vinayak Chaudhari has lodged a complaint with the Samarth police station against the hospital for medical negligence on Thursday evening.
