Infant dies after rickshaw puller gives injection

The hospital is same and the situation is similar but only too tragic to glance over. A year after the district hospital in Uttar Pradesh hit headlines over a sweeper stitching wounds, an infant died at the same medical centre after being given injection by a rickshaw puller.

The critically ill infant died at the district hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Ballia town, about 400 km from here, allegedly after being administered an injection by a rickshaw puller, who has been reportedly doubling up as a surgeon for the past several years.The family of Ajai, the eight-month-old infant, claimed that the rickshaw puller, identified as Raj Kumar, was drunk while giving the injection.

According to the reports, Ajai had been brought to hospital on Wednesday in a critical condition and the doctor on duty asked the pharmacist to administer some life-saving drug. The pharmacist reportedly asked Raj Kumar, who was also present there, to administer the drug. TV visuals showed the rickshaw puller giving an injection to a child. Kumar claimed that he had been giving stitches and injections to the patients for the past several years. “Every one knows me here and they also trust me,” he said.

State health minister Ahmed Hasan said a high-level probe had been ordered into the matter. “A team of doctors will conduct an inquiry and action will be taken against the guilty,” he said in Lucknow.

In July 2012, a sweeper was caught on camera giving stitches at this very hospital. A doctor had been suspended in connection with the incident. Earlier also, sweepers and ward boys had been caught giving stitches and injections to the patients at different hospitals in the state, reflecting the condition of the health services.

Last year, local TV channels aired a video clip showing a sweeper administering injections to some critically wounded patients at Bulandshahr district hospital. The hospital administration, while admitting that the man was not a doctor, claimed that he was trained to give injections.