4-mth-old dies after falling sick in quarantine centre, kin blame authorities

A four-month-old, who was put up at a quarantine centre, fell sick and later died due to illness. The family members of the baby alleged that the district hospital was apathetic and did not attend to the baby. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 test results of the baby are awaited.

Balod (Chhattisgarh): A four-month-old infant, who was put up at a quarantine centre in Chhattisgarh's Balod district, died due to illness on Thursday, following which family members of the infant blamed the hospital authorities for their apathetic attitude.

According to Yogeshwar Nishad, the infant's uncle, the family had come to Balod on May 14 from Chandrapur in Maharashtra, following which they were put up at the quarantine centre set up at a school in Tatenga village.

At the quarantine centre however, the baby fell extremely sick and was undergoing treatment at the local health centre.

As the baby's condition worsened, he was referred to the district hospital. However, the authorities were earlier reluctant to admit the child, and it was only after a lot of convincing that they did so, alleged Nishad.

Blaming the hospital authorities, Nishad said that no doctor checked on the baby for hours together, which led to his death. He demanded a proper investigation into the matter.

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Meanwhile, since the baby was also a coronavirus suspect, the authorities did not want to hand over the body to the family. However, the emotional mother refused to part with her son's body. It was only after much persuasion that the police managed to take the body of the baby, and handed it over to the hospital.

Uttam Sahu, the sarpanch of Tatenga, informed that the baby's samples were sent for COVID-19 testing on May 25.

Meanwhile, Gundardehi MLA Kunwar Singh Nishad took cognizance of the matter and sent his representatives to the hospital to get to the bottom of the matter.

The MLA's representatives demanded that a committee be set up to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

Meanwhile, both the collector and MLA have appealed to AIIMS to send the test result of the baby as soon as possible, so that the infant's final rites can be conducted.

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