Bereaved Dad points accusing finger at Doctor
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 18 2022:
A father has claimed that his minor daughter died at RIMS yesterday due to negligence of a surgeon of the hospital.
Nandeibam Gopinath, a father of twins, said the doctor should be held responsible and action should be taken up against him by the hospital authority.
Nandeibam Gopinath hails from Haobam Marak.
Speaking to reporters at Manipur Press Club today, N Gopinath said one of the children, the minor girl, had undergone a surgery when they were only 15 days old.
The infant girl was born with esophageal atresia, a rare condition in which the windpipe and food pipe are joined.
Whatever the infant consumes would not reach the stomach and she would vomit, Gopinath said.
A surgery was then conducted on the infant by a doctor at RIMS.
The operation was successful and the infant started to show improvement, he said.
And in October last, the child was admitted at the Mother Care hospital after a banana peel got stuck in her mouth/throat.
It was treated and the banana peel was successfully removed.
However, the child started having problems eating and drinking.
As the problems persist, the doctor who had performed the previous surgery was consulted.
The doctor then advised the family to admit the child at the Advance Hospital as RIMS "lacks the facility or equipment to carry out the required treatment" .
On November 30, the child was admitted at Advance hospital and on the same day at 12 noon the doctor diagnosed the child by putting a pipe through the mouth.
After one and half hours, the diagnosis was completed, but the child did not stop crying for the whole night and started vomiting blood from mouth, said Gopinath.
The family then sought to meet the authority concerned but they couldn't.The child was kept in the care of the Nurses of Advance Hospital and they were asked to search hospitals which have a facility of ventilation for children.
Later, the doctor informed Gopinath (father) through phone to shift the child to Shija hospital for further treatment as Shija Hospital has ventilation.
The doctor also informed him that he had contacted one Paediatric doctor named Dinesh at Shija.
When they reached Shija Hospital, they found that there was no doctor by the name of Dinesh.
Later, some of the family members went to meet the doctor.
Upon meeting, the doctor then asked them to "bring the child to RIMS by any means for treatment" .
On December 7, they took the child for treatment at RIMS but they were denied admission.
The very doctor who asked for the child to be brought at RIMS also failed to provide any kind of assistance to admit the child for treatment.
After numerous requests were made, the child was admitted to the RIMS Pediatric Ward.
However, from the day of the admission till yesterday, the doctor concerned failed to attend to the child and provide treatment.
Unfortunately, the child succumbed yesterday night at the ward, said Gopinath.
Gopinath claimed the child died due to the negligence of the doctor and his failure to provide timely treatment.
He appealed to the authorities concerned of the Hospital to look into the matter and take up befitting action against the doctor for his negligence in carrying out his duties.
Action must be taken against the doctor to deter him from repeating the same mistake again in future, he said.