Turned away by JJ, KEM and Sion hospitals, Nalasopara family finally manages to admit six-year-old to Bhatia Hospital
Syed Qureshi, 43, with his wife outside Bhatia hospital
A six-year-old is fighting for his life at Bhatia Hospital after JJ, KEM and Sion hospitals turned away the child, citing lack of adequate beds or facilities. Members of the Nalasopara family ran from pillar to post for over seven hours to ensure medical help for the child.
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The incident comes close on the heels of another incident that took place a year ago, where a toddler died after being turned away by seven hospitals, government as well as private ones, in nine hours. The son of a daily wage worker, one-and-a-half-year-old Shahbas Ali, battled internal bleeding for five days at Sion hospital's paediatric ICU before breathing his last in February last year.
According to sources, on Sunday, the accident took place around 5 pm at Nalasopara, which is almost 70 km away from Mumbai. Victim Sajid Qureshi's father, vegetable vendor Syed Qureshi, 43, said, "My son was playing outside the house when a bike ran him over. He has been unconscious since the accident."
Abdul Sheikh, the biker who hit Sajid, has been funding the treatment
Apparently, Abdul Sheikh (name changed on request) was rushing to visit a friend, who had met with an accident, when his bike ran over the boy. Speaking to mid-day, Abdul's brother, Ahmed Sheikh, said, "We immediately rushed Sajid to a nursing home at Nalasopara, but the authorities asked us to admit him to a tertiary-level hospital as Sajid required ventilator support."
Ahmed added, "We reached JJ Hospital around 8 pm, but they cited unavailability of beds. Enquiries at BMC-run hospitals like KEM and Sion bore no fruit either as they said they didn't have adequate facilities. But, the JJ authorities didn't even check Sajid's file. They asked us to wait for nearly three hours and then, informed us that they couldn't manage a bed in the ICU."
Consequently, Sajid was rushed to Bhatia hospital. As per the MRI report, the child developed a blood clot in his brain that's causing convulsions. Qureshi said, "The left side of the body has swollen badly and he is yet to gain consciousness. Delayed treatment is responsible for Sajid's condition, now."
Despite repeated calls, Dr SD Nanadkar, dean of JJ Hospital was unavailable for comment.
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