Parents of a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, who was severely bitten by a stray dog at Avalahalli in J.P. Nagar 9th Phase early on Monday morning, had to run from pillar to post for vaccination. While the child was give basic first aid and rabies vaccine within a few hours after the bite, it took about six hours to be administered Immunoglobulin vaccine.
The child’s parents, quarry workers from Andhra Pradesh, said that they rushed their son Kumaraswamy to Siddalingappa Memorial Hospital, Konanakunte Cross for first aid immediately after he was bitten around 6.30 a.m. while playing with two other children.
He was then taken to Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital where he was administered anti-rabies treatment. However, the hospital did not have Immunoglobulin vaccine. A hospital source said that the parents were asked to buy the vaccine, which costs around Rs. 5,000.
It was then that BBMP officials took him to a government-run referral hospital, which had the vaccine but no one to administer it. The child was then taken back to KIMS with the medicine and treated there before being shifted to K.C. General Hospital.
Ramesh, father of the child, said that there are a lot of stray dogs in the area but this was the first instance of a child being bitten.
A doctor at KIMS hospital said that the child had big wounds on the scalp, back and the neck and would be referred to the surgery department for further treatment.
T. Shivaram Bhat, Joint Director of BBMP’s Animal Husbandry Department, said that a team of experts were sent to the spot to catch the dog and keep it under observation for 10 days.
Health Minister U.T. Khader visited the child at K.C. General Hospital. “KIMS is a private hospital. They need to have some consideration. A part of the treatment should be done free of cost to the poor. We will discuss with the Medical Education Department on how they can be made accountable,” he said.
Hospital told to refund fee
The Bangalore Urban District Health Officer (DHO) M. Rajani has decided to book Siddalingappa Memorial Hospital for violating provisions of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act while treating Kumaraswamy.
Dr Rajani visited the hospital following complaints from the child’s family. She said that the hospital had not displayed the user charges for various procedures and collected exorbitant charges for administering basic first aid. “The family was billed for using an ICU though the hospital does not have one. Secondly, only one doctor treated the victim and administered basic first aid, but the family has been made to pay the fee of three doctors,” she said.
The DHO ordered the hospital to re-fund the Rs. 5,050 collected from Kumaraswamy’s parents.
