In a tragic incident, a one-year-old infant died while being taken to the hospital after the ambulance driver took a halt to have food. The incident was reported from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, where the parents of the deceased baby claimed their son needed immediate medical attention after he developed diarrhea-like conditions and was already receiving treatment at PRM Medical College and Hospital in Baripada town. However, the hospital authorities referred the baby to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack on Monday as his condition turned serious.
On their way to the other hospital, the driver and the pharmacist decided to halt for a lunch break at a roadside dhaba. According to the couple, the driver and the pharmacist had assured of returning quickly.
Both of them, however, took more than an hour over the lunch and fobbed off the father of the deceased child after he had gone inside the eatery looking for the driver and the pharmacist.
“They came after about 90 minutes and by then it was all over. Had the driver and the pharmacist not taken a long lunch-break my nephew would have been alive now,” Paramanand Behera, the maternal uncle of the deceased child was quoted as saying.
After the ambulance resumed its journey for Cuttack, the child’s condition turned more serious and at the Krishanachandrapur area, 10 km from Baripada, it collapsed. The baby was admitted to the Krishanachandrapur community health center, where the doctor declared the baby dead on arrival.
Enraged, the parents and other people attacked the pharmacist and the driver. They also lodged a complaint against them at the police outpost of Krishanachandrapur.
However, Sayan Bose, district coordinator of Ziqitza Healthcare Limited that operates the fleet of 108 ambulances, denied of any delay by the ambulance driver.
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