Doctors could not give oxygen when she needed it, says distraught father

Mohd Zahid, 34, was planning to buy books and stationery for his five-year-old daughter Khushi when he had to rush her to the BRD Medical College late on August 10 night. The next day, Zahid returned home with her body.

“They (doctors) could not provide her oxygen when she required it the most,” said Zahid, recalling the horror he faced when he reached the medical college. “It was 8 when my daughter suddenly contracted fever. A private doctor asked me to rush to medical college as her condition was serious,” he recalled.

“In the ICU, a pipe was inserted into her mouth for pumping oxygen by a machine. At night, we were asked to use an ambu bag but she died,” he said.

Ambu bag is a medical device used to provide assisted ventilation to patients who are unable to breathe. “We used to call her Khushi as her birth had brought happiness in our family. Her absence has shattered us,” said Zahid.

Like Zahid, there were other parents who had to face an ordeal as oxygen supply was disrupted. They still do not understand what happened.

The four-day-old baby of Pramila, 20-day-old child of Antima, five-day-old infant of Sunita and two-day-old baby of Rama Devi were some of the children who died even before they could be given a name by their parents.

The behaviour of the medical staff was criticised by the attendants. Jung Bahadur, a resident of Betia (Bihar) who had brought his son here for treatment, said he had been slapped by medical staff once. “The drip (Intravenous(IV) cannulation) came out of my son’s hand twice. Doctors attended to my request. But when I went to them again and again, one of them slapped me in anger, as they had told us to restrict the movement of the child and we could not do it,” he said.

Some alleged it was difficult to get admission in the medical college hospital. They also said it was even more difficult to take a child out of hospital and admit her somewhere else.