Toddler dies, strike continues

Parents of the toddler say Taqadus died because there was no doctor on duty.

ISLAMABAD:

Parents of Taqadus, a two-and-half-year-old girl who died in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) on Thursday, accused the doctors of negligence.

Tasawar, her father and a resident of Kallar Syedan said, “There were no doctors in the ward to give her timely treatment. The ongoing strike [of the Young Doctors Association] caused this tragedy for us.”

In the morning when Taqadus’s condition deteriorated, the panicked parents started running around the hospital asking for a senior doctor. “There was no one around to help, we were told that the doctors had gone for the strike,” said the father.

After some time, a nurse came and gave Taqadus an injection to improve her condition. “Instead of getting better, she died,” said Tasawar.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Asad Naeem, post graduate registrar in the paediatric department, denied that there had been any negligence and said all the doctors were available in the ward. “The child was being given treatment,” he said.

She was brought to the hospital 10 days back and was diagnosed with Hermansky-Pudlak, a rare disease that can cause severe blood disorders resulting from platelet abnormality. “On Thursday her platelets counts dropped to 4,000 and due to excessive internal bleeding, she died,” he said. However, Dr Naeem admitted that due to the ongoing strike they are facing an acute shortage of doctors. “We are trying our best to look after each and every patient coming to the paediatric department,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2011.