Hyderabad: After boy dies of dengue, parents allege negligence

HYDERABAD: Parents of a seven-year-old boy who died of dengue in a private health facility earlier this week have lodged a medical negligence complaint against the hospital with the police.
M Vignesh was suffering from fever and was admitted to Pragna Hospitals at Sai Baba Temple Road in Banjara Hills on September 7. His condition deteriorated while undergoing treatment and he died on September 11.
But parents of the boy, who reside in Yousufguda, blamed the doctors and nursing staff at the hospital, saying their child died due to improper treatment and negligence.

“Doctors examined the boy after he was admitted and confirmed that he was dengue positive. But as his condition deteriorated, my child was shifted to ICU and put on ventilator on Monday,” alleged the mother of the boy, M Radha.
“Instead of taking care of my child in the ICU, the nurses used to watch videos on cell phones. At times, they even tried to reduce the sound of the heart rate monitoring machine. It was as if they were playing a game. They were guessing which button to press to reduce the volume of the machine,” she added.
She further informed that the boy’s heart rate dropped drastically, and he was declared dead the next morning. “The night before my child died, a duty doctor gave him an injection to sleep. I thought that would help him rest well, but never imagined that he would never wake up. The last thing I remember was him looking at me with that innocent face, when I asked him to sleep,” said an inconsolable Radha.
A case has been registered against the doctors of Pragna Hospital at Panjagutta police station. When TOI contacted the hospital, they refused to comment on the case.
“The boy’s mother registered a complaint against the hospital staff. We are still awaiting the post-mortem reports,” said Srikanth Goud, admin sub-inspector, Panjagutta police station.
With this death, the toll has gone up to 57 this year. According to the government, all these deaths have been put under a list of ‘suspected dengue deaths’ and are being re-verified by an audit team. The health department has admitted a spurt in the virus since June 1, with 10,876 dengue cases reported from across the state.