Indian Express
23, February 2010
Mohali, India

A GIRL died hours after she was admitted to a private hospital in Mohali on Tuesday, making her family allege “negligence” on part of the hospital staff.

Kanwalpreet Kaur, in her early 20s and a resident of nearby Daon village, was admitted at a hospital in Phase I around 12.30 am and was declared dead around 9 am. She was perusing her final year of BTech from a private college near Kharar.

While her family claimed that Kaur was suffering from acute cough and cold, the hospital authorities attributed the death to acute immune disorder, which they claimed was almost incurable.

Kanwalpreet’s uncle Mandeep Singh said she was admitted in the emergency ward when brought to the hospital. “With no doctor available, only paramedical staff treated her and despite our repeated requests neither any specialist doctor was called nor she was shifted to any other place despite her deteriorating condition,” he said.

Her relatives alleged that a doctor visited the hospital in wee hours but only to direct the paramedical staff. “We were earlier told that Kaur reported some internal bleeding. It was only around 9 am when a doctor visited her and instantly declared her dead,”said Singh.

Refuting the allegations of negligence as “baseless”, hospital promoter Dr Navtej Singh claimed that the patient was bleeding profusely when brought to the hospital. “We informed her relatives that chances of her survival were very bleak but on a written undertaking given by them, we began her treatment,” he said, claiming that a physician and an anesthetist tried their best to revive the patient. Dr Singh said the patient was suffering from SLE, an acute immune disorder, which destroys the patient’s immune system. “When brought, the patient’s platelet count was 4,000 against normal requirement of 1.5 lakh,” he said, adding that the patient was kept on life support system all through.