New Delhi: 12 children die due to lack of vaccines; medical negligence or government apathy?

In a yet another incident of government ineptness to tackle medical emergencies, 12 children died of diphtheria due to lack of vaccines in the national capital. All the 12 children belong from outside Delhi and have been transferred to Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital, situated at Kingsway Camp area of North Delhi. It is to be known that around 300 more children are admitted in the hospital.

According to reports published in various news websites, all the children died in the last two weeks in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s hospital, majorly due to the scarcity of vaccines. On one side, kin of children accuses medical negligence on the hospital authorities, while the administration blames the kin for bringing the patients at the last stage. Adding on, the hospital administration also agrees that they do not have medicines in their stock and will get those by the end of this month.

It is to be known that each vaccine for diphtheria cost Rs 10,000 and the families admitting their children in the government hospital mostly belong from poor sections of the societies. Though the reports are making the rounds, no comments have been observed either fro Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia or any BJP parliamentarian either.

The incident reminds of the tragedy of last year where 68 children died in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s hometown Gorakhpur, due to lack of oxygen supply. Other than accusations from kin and administrations, the government itself had not cleared its bill of Rs 69 lakh to the contractor who used to supply oxygen cylinders to BRD Hospital.

With incidents of medical negligence continue to take place in the country like this, where patients die due to government’s lethargic attitude, health insurances released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi barely going to help in saving lives. It’s high time the government hospitals improve the facilities and coordinate with the government so that innocent lives can be saved.

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