Child under treatment for epilepsy dies due to drug shortage at KIMS

HUBBALLI: A 2.5-year-old child, who was admitted to the KIMS Hospital here, died on Monday evening, allegedly due to nonavailability of drugs. The child had been admitted to the hospital 16 days ago for treatment of epilepsy.

The child’s parents Basheer Ahmed Ballari and Nikath Ballari, residents of Anand Nagar in Old Hubballi, alleged that the doctors had informed them about improvement in the child’s health on Monday morning, but the child died in the evening due to non availability of medicines.

“For the last four days, the hospital authorities have been saying that they have no stock of the required drugs. They would not even let me purchase them from outside. The child was in the ICU and slipped into coma because of high dosage. The drugs are quite costly and how can they expect poor people to buy them from outside”, questioned Basheer.

In a separate incident, a man allegedly attempted to sell his one-year-old son to clear his loans. When his brother-in-law tried to intervene, he too was attacked. The couple frequently quarrel, said Rabia. The family has now approached the police.

The child’s parents Jilani and Tasleem are residents of Subash Nagar in Old Hubballi and Jilani works in the construction sector. According to Taslima’s mother Rabia, the police intervened and rescued the child who was later brought to KIMS hospital for treatment of minor injuries on the hands and legs.