Srinagar: The parents of a toddler were aghast and out of sheer frustration raised hue and cry inside Sher-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura on Thursday evening after a doctor ‘refused’ to treat their 2 year old baby who had mistakenly swallowed poisonous substance at his home.

“My 28 month old son Wani Ayan Majid swallowed Liquid All Out Mosquito Repellent at his Buchpora Srinagar residence. We immediately rushed to SKIMS Emergency. There we were referred to Neonatal Ward number 7. To our surprise there was no doctor available in the Ward and when we started enquiring , Dr Ajaz Ahmed from Kupwara emerged and instead of going for immediate stomach wash, he took hold of registration card and asked us to refer the baby to GB Pant Hospital citing the non-availability of bed in the hospital,” the father of toddler Abdul Majid Wani told CNS.
    “The cold response and the callous attitude of the said Doctor left us in shock and we had no option but to register the protest. We didn’t budge and leave the hospital even though the doctor called the security guards. After the intervention of some other doctors, we are allotted bed number 4 that was lying vacant. We failed to understand if the bed was already vacant why the doctor lied to us that no bed is vacant in the ward,” Wani said.
 He said that the story did not end here. “After agreeing to go for the stomach wash and allotting a bed to my sulking baby, Doctor Ajaz Ahmed penned down on the Registration Card that ‘stomach wash done at 10pm’ but disappeared for an hour. It was a nightmare for us. We were crying and praying for the life of our baby but the insensitive doctor didn’t bother. Finally after an hour, the stomach wash of my baby was carried out. I snatched the Registration Card from the doctor who tried to erase the ‘referral’ sentence from it,” Wani said.
 He alleged that delay was deliberately done in stomach washing as he entered into an argument with the doctors. “A butcher is having mercy while slaughtering an animal but certain doctors at SKIMS lack even that instinct,” he said adding that even some doctors admitted that it was a blunder on part of Doctor Ajaz of Ward number 7.
When contacted Medical Superintendent Dr Farooq Ahme Jan said that he has no information about the matter. “I will find it out. A doctor is bound to treat a patient,” he said. (CNS)