9-yr-old dies outside Patna AIIMS as father stood in queue

Rambalak pleaded with people standing ahead of him to let him go first, citing his daughter's critical condition, but no one budged.

Even when he reached the clerk after defying everyone, he was told to go back to the queue, M I Khan reports from Patna.   

In a shocking incident, a nine-year-old girl died outside the OPD registration counter at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, before her father -- standing in a long queue -- could do the registration and get the receipt.

He pleaded with the people standing ahead of him in the queue to let him go first and also to the clerk at the counter, but nobody helped him.

Nine-year-old Raushan Kumari, who was suffering from high fever for the past six days, died in front of the hospital on Tuesday for want of treatment.

The poor parents of Raushan, residents of Kajra village in Lakhisarai district, reached AIIMS for her treatment after her condition deteriorated and local doctors advised her father to go to Patna.

After reaching Patna along with his wife and ailing daughter, Rambalak was asked by the staff to go to the OPD counter first and get a slip to gain entry into the out patients department.

While Rambalak was standing in the queue, his wife rushed to him and informed that Raushan's condition was worsening and she required urgent treatment.

At this Rambalak pleaded with the people ahead of him to allow him to register first, citing his daughter's critical condition, but no one heeded his request. He repeatedly tried to go straight to the counter clerk but he was told to stand in the queue every time.

"A helpless Rambalak returned to the queue but within half an hour, he had to leave as his daughter died," a staff member of a private agency contracted for cleaning work at the AIIMS said.

According to him, as usual, the OPD registration counter was crowded on Tuesday.

The family's miseries didn't end there. After his daughter died following lack of treatment, Rambalak was not provided an ambulance to take her body. He was forced to carry her body on his shoulders. He walked nearly 4 km from the gate of Patna AIIMS to the autorickshaw stand at Phulwarisharief.

However, director of Patna AIIMS Dr Prabhat Kumar Singh said he had no information of such a case and was not aware that a critical patient died due to lack of treatment.

"As far as registration slip is concerned, doctors treat critical patients without it and registration is done later. But I will inquire into this case if it happened," he said.

The Patna AIIMS is still without an emergency ward.

Photograph: ANI.