Hyderabad hospital sacks and blames ward boy after video of child carried around with oxygen support

A day after the video of a small child at Hyderabad’s Niloufer hospital being carried around by her family, with her breathing support in tow, went viral, the hospital responded to the allegations.

The child was allegedly not provided a stretcher. 

The Hospital Superintendent said that a ward boy was responsible for the incident, and sacked him. 

In videos that surfaced on social media, the child is seemingly in a semi-conscious state, was being taken to the ESROP room, while getting breathing support from an oxygen tank.

While one person drags a large oxygen tank with tubes, the child's father carries her, even as she takes breathing support via an oxygen mask.

The person dragging the tank was identified as ward boy Babu, and was reported to be a contract employee  in the hospital.

“We made enquiries and checked with officials and staff. Nobody asked Babu to carry the child when stretchers were available. So we have sacked him,” Dr K Ramesh Reddy, hospital superintendent told Times of India.

He also assured the media that each ward had stretchers, including the operation theatres.

However, quoting sources, the TOI reported that there were no stretchers, and Babu told officials that he was driven by compassion to help the toddler.

The girl child was admitted to hospital, as she was suffering from acute respiratory problems.

After an X-ray examination, the child was reportedly shifted from the old block, which is when the video was taken.

However, the superintendent told TNIE that it is not easy to move a child of that age who has respiratory problems on a stretcher.

“We have trolleys that have oxygen cylinders attached to them which could have been used in this case or a wheelchair, where the child could be in the parent’s arms,” he told The New Indian Express.

Meanwhile, the girl is reported to be stable.

The video of the child, come just a month after five mothers died at the same hospital, within a span of a single week, while delivering their babies.

The deaths occurred between January 28 and February 4, and all the patients who died, had undergone a C-section surgery.

Following that, the hospital had temporarily stayed all C-section deliveries, and had also formed a three-member committee to probe the deaths.

While the families of the deceased alleged that the deaths were caused by negligence, the hospital denied these allegations.