4-year-old girl dies from Snakebite: PHC Medical Officer terminated for refusing timely treatment

Pune: A medical officer of Otur Primary Health Centre (PHC) has been recently terminated from his service for alleged negligence and failure to provide timely treatment to a four-and-a-half-year-old girl who tragically died due to a snake bite.    

The action in this regard was taken by the Pune district health officer (DHO) Dr Sachin Desai who issued the termination order on Monday after he found that the doctor instead of providing immediate medical treatment to the patient referred her to Narayangaon sub-district hospital where she died.  

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As per HT news report, the incident took place on July 29 at midnight when the girl who was bitten by a snake while sleeping at her home was rushed to the PHC for treatment. However, the doctor was unavailable. Noting the patient's condition, the nurse immediately called the doctor who was at home at around 1.30 am. The accused doctor who was on the phone with the nurse advised her to refer the patient to the sub-district hospital, Narayangaon.

The family then took their daughter to the sub-district hospital but the girl was declared dead by the doctors. Following her death, the angered family members demanded action against the doctor in PHC for the alleged delay in treatment. 

Accusing the doctor of negligence, the family claimed that if the doctor at Otur had treated her, their child might have survived. Further, they demanded an inquiry into the incident, The Bridge Chronicle reports. 

Speaking to HT, Dr Desai said “The medical officer stays on PHC campus to provide immediate attention to emergency cases. The medical officer was supposed to examine the girl who suffered a snake bite and provide primary treatment and anti-snake venom (ASV) instead of giving orders on the phone to refer the patient."

"He was a contractual staff and has been terminated from the service. We took the decision after an inquiry following a public complaint," Dr Desai added. 

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