Daily Times

NEW DELHI: Indian Health Minister Jagat Nadda ordered a probe into the death of a child suffering from dengue and subsequent allegations of overcharging for treatment by a private hospital, officials said Tuesday. “Health Minister J P Nadda has sought a report in the matter and has also asked health secretary to probe the matter,” an official told media. The father of the deceased seven-year-old girl told media that, private hospital Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurugram has charged him with whopping 1.6 million INR (24,602 U.S. dollars) for the treatment of his daughter for 15 days who was suffering from dengue. “I am appealing for an investigation into this,” Jayant Singh, father of the victim said. “I would not like other people to suffer like we did.” The family alleged that the doctors continued their daughter’s treatment in intensive care unit (ICU) while being fully aware that her condition had deteriorated beyond cure. “The doctors kept the child in ICU for so many days, but her brain had already damaged gradually which the doctors deliberately did not test. They continued the treatment knowing that her brain was dead,” Singh said. Fortis denied any wrongdoing saying all standard medical protocols and clinical guidelines were followed in treating the child Adya Singh. Adya was suffering from high fever on Aug. 27 when her parents rushed her to Rockland Hospital in Dwarka. Tests confirmed she was suffering from dengue. After her condition worsened, she was taken to Fortis hospital in Gurgaon on Aug. 31. According to the family, she remained on life support for 10 days and during this time the hospital billed them “heavily”. “They have charged for 1,600 gloves, 660 syringes, high-end antibiotics and sugar strips which I am not sure were even used,” Singh said. Singh said none of the hospitals that her daughter was admitted in refused to mention dengue as the cause of death. Sohini C, a freelance journalist in a report in local media writes about India’s history of hiding diseases. “Suppressing figures on dengue, and communicable diseases in general, is a national habit,” she writes in her report in an online portal – The Wire.

Published in Daily Times, November 22^nd 2017.