Pulwama, Dec 29: A complete shutdown was observed and massive protests held in this South Kashmir township against the death of a child due to the alleged negligence of doctors at district hospital here. Police has registered a case in this regard and the investigations are on.
 Six month old Zaid son of Javaid Ahmad Zargar of Pulwama was taken to the hospital on Monday morning after he fell ill. “We took the child to hospital after he suddenly started shivering. On reaching hospital we approached one of the doctors sitting in the lawns of the hospital but he refused to treat him saying it was not his case,” said uncle of the child, Muhammad Ashraf Zargar.
 He said thereafter they approached another doctor in the Out Patient Department who too didn’t treat the child saying he was not a paediatrician.
 “Despite repeatedly requesting the doctor to treat the child he turned a deaf ear,” said Zargar adding that he kept us waiting for more than an hour and insisted to refer the child to some child specialist.
 The family members alleged that the hospital authorities did not even provide ambulance for shifting the child to Srinagar.
 “After the doctors refused to treat the child on one or the other pretext we asked for ambulance for shifting the child to Srinagar but they denied. Then we had no choice but to forcibly bring the driver of the ambulance and asked him to drive it. But the child died on way at Kakpora,” said the family members.
 As soon as the news of the death of the child spread in the area, hundreds of people took to streets and protested against the hospital administration. The protesters were demanding stringent action against the doctors. In protest against the negligence of the doctors, the shopkeepers in the entire town today observed a shutdown.
 Police has registered an FIR. No 356/09 under section 304 against the doctors.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST