A day after a two-and-a-half-year-old girl, Prajitha, a suspected victim of endosulfan spraying, died allegedly after she failed to get timely medical care at the General Hospital here, the doctors at the hospital went on mass casual leave on Friday in protest against the move to suspend a paediatrician in connection with the incident.
The news of the agitation came to the notice of the District Medical Officer (DMO) through the hospital superintendent's office as the doctors had not given notice, DMO Jose D'Cruze told The Hindu .
Government doctors in the district, numbering around 35, picketed the office of the DMO at the District Hospital, Kanhangad, between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. accusing him of submitting a “biased” report to the State Health Department implicating Narayana Naik, the paediatrician, in the death of the girl.
The doctors questioned the logic behind suspending the doctor who had been on leave for the past couple of days.
As the General Hospital did not have a paediatrician, the hospital authorities had directed the parents to take the girl to Dr. Naik's house. He had charged them Rs.100 though they had the ‘Snehasanthwanam' card distributed to endosulfan victims in the district.
The DMO said the doctor, as per law, should not have charged consultation fee from a patient referred from the General Hospital.
The State Health Department Secretary's order suspending Dr. Naik for alleged dereliction of duty had not reached here till 6 p.m. on Friday. The suspension order was faxed late in the evening, highly placed sources said.
Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy on Thursday had said the Health Department was issuing orders to suspend the doctor but an order to this effect had not reached the DMO on the day, the sources said.
The body of Prajitha taken to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem on Thursday, was brought to her residence at Natakallu, near Mulleria, 15 km from here, on Friday afternoon for the funeral. District Collector K.N. Sathish and Kasaragod district panchayat president P.P. Shyamala Devi visited the house.
