Nayagarh: Tension prevailed here after a seven-month-old boy died due to alleged medical negligence at the district headquarters Thursday.
However, the police lathi-charging people staging a road blockade on National Highway-57 protesting the death drew flak from the residents.
They claimed that the police action against the unarmed protestors who were mourning the death of the infant without any provocation was uncalled for.
The deceased was identified as Smarak Pradhan, son of Shankarsan Pradhan, of Golgola under Sadar police limits.
Family members rushed the boy to the hospital after he swallowed a bottle cap and was left gasping for breath while playing at home. They took him to a doctor in the outdoor department but the latter referred the case to another doctor, the family alleged.
They were taking him to another doctor in the outdoor department when he died. The incident sparked tension among the family members as they staged a road blockade on National Highway-57 at 11.30 am alleging medical negligence.
Locals too joined them and burnt tyres demanding transfer of the doctor and compensation for the bereaved family. They alleged that the infant’s life could have been saved had the doctor intervened in time instead of making the family take rounds of the ward.
Town police rushed to the spot and tried to placate the irate protestors but the agitators refused to relent.
Aggrieved over this, IIC Rashmi Ranjan Pattnaik ordered lathi-charge. As a result, the road blockade ended abruptly with the agitators running helter-skelter to save themselves from the police lathis.
Hundreds of vehicles which were left stranded on either side of the highway left for their destinations after the end of the blockade at 12.30pm
Chief district medical officer (CDMO) Niranjan Swain termed the charges of medical negligence as baseless.
“The infant was gasping for breath when the family took him to the doctor in the casualty ward. The baby died while being shifted to the dressing room,” Swain claimed.
Nayagarh tehsildar gave Rs 10,000 to the bereaved family while a probe will be undertaken if the family lodges a complaint.
The collector’s intervention will be sought if the probe report indicates medical negligence to be the reason behind the boy’s death.
IIC Pattnaik said the agitators were blocking the highway and disrupting traffic which is against the law. The police have registered a suo motu a case and started an investigation.
PNN