While the children’s families blame the staff of Kota’s J.K. Lon Hospital for negligence, studies show that the government hospital is poorly equipped and understaffed. Mohammed Iqbal reports on the failure of the primary healthcare system which has led to the deaths of more than a hundred children in the last 40 days
When four-month-old Tejas had a constant cough, ran a high fever and experienced shortness of breath in November 2019, his worried parents rushed him to a neighbourhood doctor. Suspecting pneumonia, the doctor advised the parents to hospitalise Tejas immediately. Sanjay and Padma Rawal took the infant to J.K. Lon Mother and Child Hospital, a government-run children’s healthcare centre. With 307 beds, it is the largest hospital in Kota, Rajasthan.
Though Tejas showed some improvement, Rawal, 30, who works at the Krishi Upaj Mandi, the local agricultural marketing hub, was not satisfied. Tejas’ fever had not subsided and Rawal felt that the doctors were not giving him sufficient attention. The family shifted the infant to a private hospital after three days though they knew that in all probability they could ill afford treatment there.
Rawal sold his wife’s jewellery for ?80,000 to meet the cost of treatment for 10 days. Extensive tests, including a chest X-ray, blood tests and sonography, were conducted. Medicines and injections were given. Tejas was discharged after the doctors assured his parents that he had fully recovered.
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