One more inmate of Indore children’s shelter home dies; toll rises to 11
Indore, A three-year-old girl, inmate of an `ashram’ or shelter home here, has died during treatment which took the number of children from the facility who died following a recent cholera outbreak to 11, an official said on Tuesday.
Shri Yugpurush Dham Bal Ashram in the city, which offers shelter to disabled, neglected or orphaned children, is in news after several inmates died in the last one-and-half months. Dr Preeti Malpani, superintendent of the government-run Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, said the girl’s family members admitted her in the children’s hospital in very critical condition on August 3.
“The girl was suffering from vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration,” she said. Despite all efforts by doctors, her condition did not improve and she died on Monday night, Dr Malpani said. The girl was already suffering from malnutrition and disability, she said, adding that the body was sent for autopsy. The ashram management claimed they had handed over the girl to her family, the hospital superintendent said. According to officials, a recent probe report by the district administration indicated that ten children died in the last one-and-half months after the outbreak of cholera in the ashram.
A probe conducted by a high-level committee constituted by the administration also suggested that there was overcrowding at the ashram. Medical records of children were not maintained properly and there were other irregularities, the panel found. In the case of the latest death, no prima facie negligence has been found, said district collector Ashish Singh.
The inmates whose parents are alive have been handed over to them, he said. Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari said the deaths of children in various cases of negligence have become the hallmark of the BJP government. “What is the reason that even after the deaths of 11 children from the ashram in Indore, no FIR has been registered against the management? A case should be registered against the ashram management immediately,” he said.