Srinagar: A day after Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Science (SKIMS) Soura authorities refuted the allegations about doctors preferring watching cricket match than to attend on two little babies who had taken some poisonous substance, the family of these twin babies Friday said that ‘arrogant’ doctors not only thrashed the attendants but also dragged them out from the hospital without treating the babies.
“The claim made by the SKIMS authorities through Assistant Director Public Relations is absolutely false and fabricated while the truth is doctors got disturbed after we entered the hospital with our unconscious babies. Any conscience minded person will take pity on me after listening to my story,” the father of the babies told news agency CNS.
While narrating his ordeal at Press Enclave Srinagar, Tanvir Ahmed Khan, a resident of Bemina Srinagar said that on June 26, when everyone was engrossed in watching Pakistan, New Zealand cricket match, his two babies took some poisonous substances. We took them to JVC Bemina where doctors after administering a vaccine referred them to SKIMS Soura for immediate stomach wash.”
He said he had a bitter experience at SKIMS which changed his outlook towards doctors’ community. “One Doctor was watching Pakistan New Zealand cricket match on cell phone while another was checking his score of ‘Dream Eleven’.
Quoting one of the doctors as having said that JVC Bemina refers every Tom, Dick and Harry to Soura, Tanvir Ahmed Khan, the father of those two babies said that when one of his relatives accompanying him asked the doctor to repeat the same lines on mobile video, he snatched the cell phone and smashed it with the wall. “After entering into an argument, a couple of doctors called them into the Control Room. Few doctors locked the room and thrashed not only my relative but two other persons as well who had accompanied me. I begged before the doctors to attend my babies which they declined saying they are on strike,” he said.
“We have lodged a complaint against these doctors who thrashed the attendants at Police Station Soura and I hope these ‘unbridled and arrogant’ doctors will be taken to task,” Khan said.
He said it was a nightmare for him. “When doctors at SKIMS refused to attend my babies, without wasting any time, I shifted them to GB Panth hospital. I can’t express in words how these doctors behaved. For a moment I felt they are not doctors but bookies who are more interested in cricket than saving human lives. I will never forget the faces of those two doctors,” he said.
“My both babies are stable now, but I can’t forget this moment as well when the driver of the ambulance started watching cricket match as well while driving, when one of my babies was shifted to SMHS hospital from GB Panth for stomach wash on the same evening,” he said adding cricket fever has gripped almost everyone in Kashmir.
Pertinently, Public Relations Section of SKIMS has refuted the allegations of family. Assistant Director Public Relations has issued a statement that reads: “Two children had come to the Paediatric Emergency SKIMS as a case of ingestion of Caustic Soda. The patients had been referred from SKIMS Medical College Bemina. The children were seen by doctors on duty (Paediatrics). Further, advise for consultation from Gastroenterology was sought. Doctors on duty in Gastroenterology advised to admit the patients under Paedriatics and observe. No active intervention was needed. While the formalities were being made for admission, the attendants got angry and started altercation with the doctors on duty in paedriatics, asking why no active intervention was being done. Endoscopy in such a setting is contraindicated as it can lead to serious complication. Furthermore, the question of doctors watching cricket match does not arise when doctors were present on duty and no TV exists in these areas.” (CNS)
