RAIPUR: In a heart wrenching incident in Chhattisgarh capital, a two-month old baby died of suffocation after the door of the ambulance he was being taken to hospital got locked for two hours and there was no availability of sufficient oxygen supply. The parents from Bihar had landed at Raipur railway station for treatment of the newborn for heart ailment and when they reached BR Ambekdkar hospital -the biggest hospital in state- driver struggled to open the lock of door, causing death of infant. Later, the inconsolable parents were also not provided hearse van and they took the deceased in auto-rickshaw to cremation ground.
Due to the negligence and insensitivity of ambulance and hospital staff at BR Ambedkar hospital, a couple lost their two-month old baby in lack of oxygen. The parents were heading towards Sathya Sai Sanjeevani hospital at Naya Raipur for treatment of the baby for his heart ailment when he had to be taken to nearest Ambedkar hospital as the newborn needed immediate medical attention.
Despite reaching the hospital, the baby couldn’t be taken in for treatment as the ambulance door’s lock got stuck and didn’t open for two long hours despite efforts by staff.
According to information, when the concerned father of child tried breaking the glass window of ambulance, he was allegedly threatened not to damage government property and wait for the door to get open.
When the staff failed to break open the lock, the small glass screen behind driver’s seat was broken and baby was taken out of the ambulance, but it was too late.
The baby was declared dead. The inconsolable parents sat on hospital premises shocked to know their child is no more.
Having no clue what to do next, the wailing parents waited for some assistance but no initiative was taken by hospital management to provide them hearse van so that they could carry the deceased baby to cremation ground.
It was after former legislator Kuldeep Juneja intervened that an auto-rickshaw was arranged and the couple was accompanied by few people to Devendra Nagar cremation ground.
The officials at hospital and GVK EMRI ambulance couldn’t be reached till filing of this report.
