New Delhi, June 3 (IANS): The Delhi government on Wednesday issued notice to two of its hospitals for not treating a nine-day-old baby who was born with a hole in his heart.
According to medical reports, the baby was born on May 25 but was diagnosed with a hole in her heart.
It was on Tuesday when the health of the baby girl deteriorated, following which her parents took her to the Delhi government's Holy Family hospital.
However, the hospital refused treatment and referred the baby to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The poor parents suffered the same fate at the country's premier hospital and were again referred to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital, and from there to G.B. Pant and then to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) hospital.
The child was not admitted to any of them citing her critical health.
"Denied treatment in the government hospitals, we finally took our daughter to the Apollo hospital. Though they admitted our daughter and agreed to treat her, we are facing difficulty in paying the fees," said Sarita, the baby's mother.
Following an appeal for help, the Delhi government issued notice to the LNJP and G.B. Pant hospitals, seeking reply within two days on why they refused treatment.
Speaking on the issue, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendar Jain told reporters: "We are very much worried regarding such issues despite having so many government hospitals.
"Notice has been issued and once we get the reply from the doctors, we will proceed ahead."
The Delhi government also directed Apollo hospital to give full medical treatment to the baby under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.
Apollo in a statement said the patient was brought to the hospital in a critical condition and was immediately attended to by a team of experts.
"She is being provided appropriate medical care by a competent multi-disciplinary team of senior consultant doctors and is under constant monitoring and observation on ventilator support in the ICU. The patient is admitted under EWS category," it said.