Negligence by PGIMS Rohtak, says panel

ROHTAK: A team of Haryana State Women Commission (HSWC) and district child welfare committee (CWC) visited the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) Rohtak on Monday and found negligence on part of the hospital administration in admitting an HIV positive couple that died due to alleged delay in treatment.

“We inspected the hospital and HIV wards for two-and-a-half hours on Monday and can say in our initial investigation that there was some form of negligence by the hospital. For further probe, we have constituted a panel under the leadership of CWC chairman Raj Singh. The panel will also have a private doctor, a police officer, a woman commission official and a law expert from women and child department,” said Pratibha Suman, the chairperson of the HSWC.

The case pertains to Haryana’s largest hospital, PGIMS Rohtak, allegedly denying admission to an HIV positive couple from Sonepat that had come here for treatment on July 10. As they waited outside the hospital for admission, the HIV positive man passed away on July 14. Despite this, the hospital allegedly did not admit the woman for the next eight days till the local media and CWC intervened.

The woman was finally admitted on July 22, but she too passed away on July 25. The couple has two young girls, one of whom is also HIV positive.

“We inspected the ward where the woman was finally admitted. We found that the hospital equipment for HIV patients are not working. Forget patients, even machines are sick in this hospital,” Suman said.

“We also inspected the Anti Retrovirus (ART) Centre and found there was no doctor deployed there by the Haryana AIDS Control Society, which in itself is a big negligence. We also found that the hospital was regularly changing doctors at the Centre. This is wrong, since HIV positive patients don’t feel comfortable in opening up to different doctors,” she said, adding that they also visited the shelter home where the couple’s kids are living at present and enquired about their health.

Meanwhile, taking cognisance of media reports, Haryana health minister Anil Vij has also ordered a probe in the case.