Family alleges child died after being denied treatment

A nine-month-old sick tribal child, carried 6 km on the shoulders by his parents to a health centre, died allegedly after being denied medical treatment in Baran district's Shahbad area, the family alleged.
Authorities, however, dismissed the allegations, saying the child was suffering from pneumonia and the parents were asked by a doctor to go to the emergency ward but they went home instead.
According to grandmother, Kosabai, the child, Sunny Deol Sahariya, was suffering from cough and cold since Sunday.
Yesterday, Sunny's father, Rajesh, and mother, Sumantara, carried him on their shoulders to the community health centre 6 km away from their village Chorkhadi.

They reached the CHC around noon when they were informed that the doctor on duty had left for home as his duty hours were over, she alleged.
When they reached the doctor's residence, he told them to either wait for treatment till 5 pm or take the child to the district hospital in Baran which is 80 km away, she alleged.

They waited for sometime, hoping to arrange an ambulance to the district hospital but were unsuccessful. They eventually started for their village to arrange money to reach Baran hospital, she alleged.
But soon after leaving the CHC, Sunny died in their arms. They had to carry his body back to the village on their shoulders as they could not find an ambulance, she alleged.

Deputy Chief Medical and Health Officer Rajendra Meena was sent to the spot this morning to probe the incident by CMHO (Baran).
Shahbad Block CMHO (Baran) Atalraj Mehta said the parents had reached the CHC after OPD timings.
They were asked to go to the emergency ward of the hospital by Dr Ashok Meena so that Sunny could be referred to Baran district hospital, he said.
"I visited the family members in Chorakhadi village and spoke to them about the whole incident. They admitted that they did not go into the hospital's emergency ward after Ashok wrote the prescription," he said.

They also did not got to the hospital after the child's death but returned to their village and performed the last rites, he said.
A report of the incident would be sent to the district collector, Mehta said.