The death of a two-year-old boy in Mumbai’s Shivaji Nagar area has put in the limelight for unqualified people practicing ‘medical’ in the area, following which police on Thursday raided various ‘clinics’.
When two-year-old Taha Azim Khan was admitted to Noor Hospital on January 11, he was vomiting and having diarrhea. On the bed next to him was a 16-year-old suffering from fever. According to Azim Shaikh (35), the boy’s father, nurse Nargis and Salimunisa had an argument over who would give the injection before Taha was discharged on January 13. Sheikh alleged, “In a rage, Nargis gave injection to my son… Within half an hour, my son was dead.”
An officer at Shivaji Nagar police station said that the two injections were kept in the same drawer and instead of his medicine, Taha was given azithromycin 500 mg, which was meant for the older boy. Too strong for him, the boy died because of the injection.
Senior Inspector Arjun Rajne said they came to know that the nurse had not done any medical course and was pursuing HSC. He also worked as a sweeper in the hospital, he said.
“We investigated the matter for a week… On Wednesday, we registered an FIR against the nurses, the resident medical officer of the hospital and a management officer on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, death due to negligence, among other charges,” They said. said. The four accused are currently absconding.
Noor Hospital
When Indian Express Noor went to the hospital, a receptionist said she had recently come to work and was not aware of the incident. The mobile number of Dr Syed Nizam, one of the directors of the hospital, was switched off, while the other two directors, Huzaifa Ahmed and Syed Maz, said they were medical students and were not aware of the incident.
Azeem said, “My child was cured in two days… but the hospital authorities kept delaying his discharge saying they wanted to give him some antibiotics.”
Azeem, who has a pizza shop in the area, has six children and Taha is the youngest of the siblings. “My wife is afraid to even go into the room where we put her,” he said.
On Thursday, the Shivaji Nagar police station officials raided various clinics under their jurisdiction to find out whether the medical personnel were serving without a licence. Police have started raiding “fake doctors” in the area, which is located along the eastern suburbs and has the lowest human development index in the city.
azithromycin 500 mg
While in rare cases, they find doctors without any qualifications, they have also found people who are practicing as doctors with degrees recognized by the Maharashtra Medical Council, an official said.
An official said such clinics thrive as they do not charge as much as a qualified doctor charges. “A highly qualified doctor will charge a high consultation fee, which we will find difficult to pay,” said Tauseef Shaikh, a local resident. Some of these doctors then seek local help, most of whom are not qualified, an official said. “In the absence of these doctors, helpers, who are not equipped to do so, offer medicine, leading to such incidents,” the official said.
On Sunday, 10-year-old Tahir Khan died after allegedly taking medicine given by a dentist. A police officer said Khan’s mother took him to the dentist on January 15 for a toothache. After taking the medicine, the boy developed a rash on his hand, after which he was taken to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar. He died the next day. The police have taken the accidental death report as the cause of death is not yet known.
“It could be an allergic reaction. In such cases, we send the viscera to a forensic laboratory and later a panel of doctors gives us a report. As of now, no FIR has been registered,” said Shivaji Nagar police station an official said.
Relying on one such panel report, the Shivaji Nagar police on December 29 arrested a nurse for allegedly giving the wrong injection to a woman in October 2021, leading to her death.
,