‘Doctors put life of our 3-yr-old daughter at risk,’ says family

Bangalore: A three-year-old girl, who was admitted to the government-run Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Tra­uma and Orth­opaedics for a fracture in her left hand, is now battling for life after doctors allegedly botched up a surgery.

The girl, Mariyam Kou­sar, was operated upon on December 16 and since then she has been lying in the intensive care unit with a brain haemorrhage and severe swelling of her arm. “Mariyam fell while playing at home and suffered a minor fracture on December 13. We rushed her to the institute the same day, but she was treated only on December 16.

That day, they wheeled her into the operation theatre around 8.30 am, but did not bring her out till 3 pm. When we asked the doctors, they said that the baby was sleeping. After sometime, they asked us to shift her to the ICU without giving us any reasons,” said Mariyam’s aunt Reshma.

“The doctors refused to give us the medical reports. The child was suffering from 103º fever and she was biting her lips and tongue. Only after we put our foot down, did the doctors give us the reports. They also told us to shift the child to Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health.

The doctors there told us that Mariyam needed a ventilator support, which they did not have. We shifted her to Malati Manipal Hospital on December 18,” Reshma said. Despite the medical intervention, Mariyam continues to be on ventilator support and is in a critical condition. Health Minister U.T. Khader visited Mariyam at the hospital on Tuesday. He assured the child’s parents of necessary action against the guilty doctors.

But Dr B.G. Tilak, Director, Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics, denied the claims of the family saying, “The child would have lost the limb if the surgery had not been conducted.
The doctors administered little anaesthesia and she developed respiratory problems. She was shifted to the ICU. The parents got her discharged and are now making false claims.”