Relatives, neighbours of mishap victim piqued by callous attitude of hospitals

A crowd of relatives and neighbours gathered at the entrance of the AIIMS trauma centre hoping for a miracle which could save seven-year-old Shailesh, who had been run over a bus along with his sister.

Around 3 pm, when it became clear that the child won’t survive, agitated people started pacing around thinking about their next move.

“We want adequate compensation to the parents from both the Delhi government and the Delhi Transport Corporation,” said Anurag, a neighbour of Shailesh.

Sitting alone on a stone slab outside the Trauma Centre’s entrance, Shailesh’s father Jitendra Paswan was in no mood to talk.

People were unhappy with the inability of the police to arrest the accused driver. But they were particularly angry by the callous approach shown by the administration of city’s two leading hospitals — AIIMS and Max.

On Wednesday morning, Shailesh was rushed to Saket’s Max Smart Superspeciality Hospital after his accident.

Even before beginning the operation, the hospital administration made a call to Shailesh’s uncle and told him about the cost which they had to incur if they wanted go ahead with the operation.

“They told me that it would cost Rs 2 to 2.5 lakh for the operation. I had an experience with the hospital where they charged more than one lakh rupees for a minor operation. I thought about it and decided to take the risk of taking him to AIIMS,” said Pankaj Paswan, uncle of Shailesh.

Hospital denies charge

Max Smart Superspeciality Hospital, however, denied the charge made by Shailesh’s uncle. “Considering the urgency of the situation, the family of the child was briefed and counselled that the child be shifted to the AIIMS trauma centre, where he was subsequently moved in a Max ACLS ambulance under the supervision of a paediatrician.

At no point in time any financial consideration was asked for,” said Max hospital’s PRO in an official statement. From Max, Shailesh was taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre. However, even there, his relatives alleged, he was made to wait outside 30 minutes.

“The boy had come in the Max Hospital’s ambulance and the attendant in the ambulance told the AIIMS officials about the seriousness of the case. However, the AIIMS administration refused to admit the boy citing unavailability of beds,” said Pankaj.

“We made some calls to the police and when nothing happened we went inside the trauma centre and pleaded with the doctors to take the boy inside. Only after that he was admitted and put on the ventilator,” said Anurag, Shailesh’s neighbour.

The boy died few hours after he was admitted at the trauma centre.  People went into a protest after it on MB Road, where the accident took place. Police however controlled the protesters and dispersed them.