In a case of alleged apathy in administering treatment to a one-and-a-half-year-old critically injured girl who fell from the second floor balcony on Monday morning, the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health (IGICH) came under immense criticism and faced protests by family members and relatives over delay in treatment. The child died later in the evening.
The shocking accident took place around 10.30 a.m. when the child, Gagana Venkatesh, was standing on the balcony of her house on Narayana Swamy Garden, J.C. Road. “She was leaning forward and looking down, calling for her mother Suma who was on the ground floor with her son Balaji buying vegetables.
Suma called out to her daughter saying that she was coming upstairs. The girl leaned more as she couldn’t spot her mother and fell off,” said Saraswati, a neighbour.
Local residents rushed the severely injured Gagana to St. Martha’s Hospital where doctors referred her to NIMHANS saying the life support system was defunct.
“We reached NIMHANS in an ambulance but the doctors didn’t attend to the bleeding child for nearly an hour. They later advised us to take her to the IGICH. We quickly took her there but a lady doctor, who attended to her, behaved rudely. That is when we lost our cool,” said M. Ram, a neighbour who along with a few others had taken the child to the hospital.
The alleged delay resulted in more than 50 people, including family members, relatives and local residents, staging a protest outside the hospital. This attracted media attention following which the child was taken in for treatment.
Gagana’s father Venkatesh, who arrived later at the hospital, was visibly upset as he told The Hindu that he was at work when he was informed about the accident. He works at a garment unit in Sudhama Nagar while Suma is a home-maker. The family had moved into the rented house five months ago.
