The Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights has directed the Health department to ensure that children reaching hospitals for treatment get proper care and employees, including doctors, behave with them in a friendly manner.
The commission directive was issued on Thursday to the Health Secretary and the Director of Health Services.
A single bench of commission member Reni Antony was taking suo motu action on a media report that a child who had sustained a snakebite in September last year did not get adequate treatment at the Punalur taluk hospital.
The media report said that the 11-year-old boy had not seen the snake, but looking at the wound, it was clear that it was a snakebite. The child was taken to the casualty of Punalur taluk hospital but none came to attend to him. It was at 4.50 p.m. that the first blood test was done, and another at 5.15 p.m. Only after a doctor was told about the child’s condition that the child was examined. The boy was then referred to Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, but no ambulance was made available. By the time the child reached the medical college hospital, his condition had deteriorated. He had to undergo dialysis four times and got fits twice. He remained in hospital for 18 days.
Hospital’s report
The taluk hospital superintendent’s report to the commission said the child was brought to the hospital at 4.50 p.m. The doctor on duty examined him and took note of the whole blood clotting time twice, and found that the blood was clotting, which meant the poison had not entered the body. No symptoms as per the snakebite management protocol were noticed in the child. Despite this, the child was referred SAT Hospital.
The DMO told the commission that the child was kept under observation for only an hour, and no symptoms of snakebite were seen in the child. The chid vomited only after reaching Thiruvananthapuram. The problems in communication between patients and hospital employees had led to such complaints.
‘Painful experience’
The child’s mother told the commission that the experience at the taluk hospital was painful and no one else should undergo such a situation.
The commission observed that though it could be argued from the hospital records that the child was given necessary treatment, the attitude of hospital employees needed to change. They should be provided training in how to be behave in a friendly manner with children and their families and be clear in their communication. This was not an isolated incident, as was evident from previous orders of the commission. Also, doctors and other hospital employees did not have adequate knowledge of child rights.
Punalur hospital staff
Training should be given to all staff of the Punalur taluk hospital in the above aspects. Steps should also be taken to make all hospitals in the State child friendly, the commission said.
