india

Updated: May 28, 2019 21:51 IST

A woman was forced to carry the body of her nine-year-old son in her arms as ambulance was not provided to her allegedly by the district hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur on Monday night.

The child, Afroz, was referred to Lucknow for treatment, but he died in his mother’s arms on the hospital premises.

Shahajahanpur district magistrate Amrit Tripathi formed a probe panel. “Prima facie, the hospital staff appeared to be at fault. We will write to the higher authorities for strict action against them. I am waiting for the report,” he said. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights member Preeti Verma has issued a notice to the health authorities

According to reports, the parents took Afroz, who was suffering from high fever, to the district hospital. The doctors later referred the child to a hospital in Lucknow after his condition worsened. However, the child died on the hospital premises a little while after being discharged and when the parents asked for an ambulance to take the child’s body home, they were allegedly denied the facility.

“There were a few ambulances parked in the hospital, but I don’t know why they refused to provide me one,” said Shakeel (he goes by one name), the boy’s father. “We were unable to hire a private vehicle due to financial constraints so I carried my child on my shoulders while returning home,” said the boy’s mother who refused to share her name. However, emergency medical officer Anurag Parashar said, “The child’s parents said they wanted to get him treated in some other health institution and got him discharged... We weren’t asked for ambulance or anything else.”