Dengue suicide: Centre orders inquiry; says 'guilty won't be spared'

The Union Health Ministry today ordered an inquiry into the tragic case here in which the parents of a seven-year-old boy committed suicide following the death of their child due to suspected dengue after he was allegedly denied admission by two prominent private hospitals.

Health Minister JP Nadda said that the "guilty will not be spared". "Ordered inquiry into incident reported in media involving death of child in Delhi due to Dengue and suicide by parents. Guilty won't be spared," the minister said in a tweet.

The couple, identified as Laxmichandra and Babita Rout, committed suicide by jumping from a four-storeyed building in south Delhi's Lado Sarai.

Their only son, Avinash, died of suspected dengue on September 8 after allegedly being denied admission by two prominent private hospitals on the previous day.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has ordered issuance of show-cause notice to the two hospitals, said a senior state government official.

The deceased, both natives of Odisha, left behind a one- page suicide note in which they have written that "it was nobody's fault" and that "the decision" was theirs.

Police have initiated an inquest proceeding in the case under Section 174 of CrPC, but no case has been registered so far.

The dengue death toll in the national capital now stands at five although the Municipal Corporation is yet to include three deaths in the official list.

According to municipal corporation data, 1,259 cases of dengue have been reported in Delhi this year till September 5 with at least 428 cases coming in the first week of this month.