Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

Nursing home in Ooty attacked after boy’s death

UDHAGAMANDALAM: A private nursing here was attacked by relatives of a boy who died there on Tuesday.

The six-year-old I. Praveen, of Kulishola, had complained of stomach pain and giddiness in his school. The school authorities admitted him to the nursing home. In the evening, his condition deteriorated, and he died shortly after 8 p.m. Blaming wrong diagnosis and improper treatment for the death, his relatives went on the rampage, smashing the doors, windows and medical accessories of the hospital, forcing the doctors and staff to take cover.

On a complaint filed by the boy’s father Iyyasamy, the police registered a case and removed the body to the government headquarters hospital here for post-mortem.

Joint Director of Health (in-charge) L. Raghunath said the post-mortem was video-graphed. The vital parts had been sent for tests, he said, and the results would be out in a fortnight. Twisted mesentery, considered a rare disease, was suspected to be the cause, he said. An urgent general body meeting of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the Nilgiris chapter, was convened by president Sanjay Vijayaraj.

He said private practitioners abstained from work on Wednesday to condemn the attack on the nursing home. Clinics did not function. The nursing homes and clinics in the district would not function on Thursday, too.

He demanded action against those responsible for the attack, and a law to protect doctors from such treatment by the people.

Government doctors will sport black badges on Thursday. Kesavan, who is running the nursing home, said that the boy was admitted with symptoms of food poisoning, and was given appropriate treatment, but he collapsed after a few hours.

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