A 20-year-old from the Kodigenahalli village in the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border died on Monday morning, allegedly because the government hospital she was admitted at lacked basic facilities. In fact, when Rathnamma was taken to the hospital on Saturday night, there were no doctors there to even look at her.
Rathnamma was suffering from high fever and cough on Saturday night. Her father and uncle took her to the Kodigenahalli Government Hospital at 10pm, but no doctors were present to treat her.
“We then took her to a private practitioner, Gopal Rao, in our village and he gave her a few medicines. Her condition got worse in the morning and she had trouble breathing. We took her to Dr Gopal Rao again in the morning and he said that she has to be hospitalised. At around 6.45 am, we took her back to the government hospital and the doctors were not there,” said the girl’s uncle Rajanna.
Rajanna said that it became difficult to understand what Rathnamma was going through as she was unable to speak. The father then went to the doctor’s house to inform him of his daughter’s condition.
“It was around 8.30 am when my brother went to the doctor’s house. The doctor told him that he would come to the hospital after breakfast. She was struggling to breathe and when the doctor arrived, he said that she needed to be taken to the Madhugiri Taluk Hospital, which is 20km away. There was no ambulance at the hospital and we were in the process of arranging a vehicle. It was too late and she passed away,” Rajanna added.
Rajanna said that it took too long to arrange a vehicle as they did not have enough money to rent one. “My brother-in-law was in town and since there was no ambulance, we borrowed his TVS scooter and took her body back home. They (hospital authorities) did not even help us arrange a vehicle to carry the body,” Rajanna added.
However, Kodigenahalli Zilla Panchayat member, Manjula, said that the doctors were present and that the family refused to accept help offered by several local leaders. She, however, admitted that the hospital lacks ambulance service and there is no round-the-clock medical service there.
“I have been urging the ZP members to get an ambulance for the hospital and also to have shifts for doctors. Currently, there are only two doctors and they work from 10am to 5pm,” she added.
The Kodigenahalli Councillor meanwhile claimed to media persons that the hospital does have an ambulance and that the girl’s family members were ‘stubborn’ and did not accept anyone’s help.