Kin blame doctor for boy’s death in Madhya Pradesh, say he was busy with puja

A five-year-old boy died in his mother’s lap at Bargi in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district allegedly for the want of treatment as the on-duty doctor at a health centre was busy at home with a special puja.

Sanjay Pandey, a resident of Tinhata village, said he rushed his son to the Arogya Kendra in Bargi at around 10am on Wednesday with his son, who was suffering from diarrhoea. He said Lokesh Kumar, the doctor, did not show up even as they waited for hours after a nurse informed them that he was busy.

Pawan Kumar, the boy’s uncle, said his nephew died because he did not get treatment. “We came to know that Lokesh Kumar was busy with the special puja at home because his wife was fasting that day.” He blamed poor health facilities for the boy’s death

Congress leader and former chief minister Kamal Nath attacked the state’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government after a photo of the boy’s distraught family went viral on social media. “It is shocking that people are dying without treatment. This is a failure of the state government and the health minister should resign.”

Jabalpur district collector Illayaraja T claimed the doctor was on duty and that the boy was brought to the health centre after he had died. “The doctor informed the family about the death but they were not ready to accept this fact. The boy had burn injuries in one leg...infection spread due to burn injuries.”

The matter came to light after much outrage over poor health facilities in the state as a video went viral on Wednesday and showed a man carrying his pregnant wife to a hospital on a handcart in Damoh.