A district consumer forum has awarded Rs. 5 lakh compensation to a woman, who lost her five-year-old-son nearly a decade ago due to the wrong medication given by a staff of Employees State Insurance dispensary, Tiruvanmiyur.
Sajitha Parveen took her son Mohammed Asiq, who was suffering from fever, cough and cold to the dispensary on June 18, 2003. The doctor had prescribed medicines. She administered medicines obtained from the pharmacy attached to the dispensary. However, her boy fell seriously ill. As per advice of a private practitioner, she took the child to the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Egmore, where the child died on June 25 of that year. Thereafter, she preferred a criminal complaint against the staff at ESI Dispensary. The post-mortem revealed that the death was due to wrong medication. Hence, she filed the present consumer complaint seeking compensation from the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).
Disposing of her complaint, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Chennai (North) headed by its president R. Mohandoss held that the pharmacist of the dispensary was responsible for negligence while exonerating the doctor. They also said, “The medicines were meant for diabetic and cardiac problems and only because of those medicines [the patient] died. The ESIC is liable to pay compensation to the mother as the pharmacist is under its control.”
The forum directed the ESIC to pay Rs. 5 lakh compensation to Ms. Parveen with nine per cent interest from the date of filing the complaint- December 16, 2003- till date of payment. The payment should be made within six weeks.
