Outrage in India over 10-year-old rape victim's death after alleged treatment delay
PATNA — The death of a 10-year-old rape victim in the eastern Indian state of Bihar after an alleged delay in medical treatment has sparked outrage in the country.
The girl died on Sunday morning at the state government-run Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in the capital Patna.
Her uncle has alleged that the child's condition worsened as she was kept waiting in an ambulance for around four hours on Saturday before being admitted to the hospital.
PMCH authorities have denied this, saying that claims of a delay in admission are "baseless".
The girl's death has made national headlines, with opposition leaders accusing the Bihar government - a coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal United (JD-U) - of gross mismanagement. The government has denied any negligence.
The girl is from the Dalit community, which is at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy. Dalits face widespread mistreatment in India despite laws in place to protect them.
Following the outrage, the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women have criticised the incident and asked for the hospital's role to be investigated.
Rape victims cannot be named under Indian law.
The girl was raped on 26 May, allegedly by a man who lived near her aunt's house in Muzaffarpur. Police have arrested the man and are investigating the crime.
The girl went missing while she was playing outside her house. Her family members later found her lying injured near a road. Police officials have told reporters that she had several knife wounds.
She was first taken to a local hospital and then to the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), around 85km (53 miles) from Patna.
Kumari Vibha, the superintendent of SKMCH, told BBC Hindi that the child had several injuries, including wounds on her chest and neck, but that her condition had stabilised. She was referred to PMCH as she needed reconstruction surgery on her windpipe, Ms Vibha said.
But at PMCH, the child's uncle said, they faced a delay in admission while the child waited in the ambulance.
"They [the hospital staff] made us run around for four hours from one hospital department to another one," he alleged. She was later admitted to the gynaecology department, he said.
The hospital has denied the allegations. IS Thakur, a top hospital official, said that the child's family had initially admitted her to the paediatrics department but that she was sent to the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) department because of her injuries.
"Since we do not have an ICU in ENT, the child was shifted to the ICU of the gynaecology department," he said, adding that the child was brought in an Advance Life Support ambulance, which is equipped to offer critical care.
"The allegations of a delay in getting a hospital bed are baseless," Thakur said.
The child's plight began making news after a viral video showed members of the opposition Congress party arguing with hospital staff, demanding that she be admitted.
Opposition parties in the state have held several protests since the death.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the girl's death was "extremely shameful" and demanded that strict action be taken against negligent officers.
"The rape victim waited for hours outside PMCH to be admitted... what is the use of the big buildings being built in the name of hospitals when there is chaos, corruption, misbehaviour, lack of resources and insensitivity all around?" the state's main opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal said on X.
Leaders of the BJP and JD(U) have denied any negligence. Anamika Singh Patel, a BJP spokesperson, called the girl's death "unfortunate".
"But I myself run a hospital and I know that getting a bed in a hospital is a process which takes time. People in our government are working responsibly," she said.
The incident has also brought attention to the condition of Bihar's medical infrastructure, months before the state assembly election is due to be held.
Last month, a patient at another government hospital in Patna said that a rat bit his toe while he was asleep. Hospital authorities had launched an investigation into the incident.
On Tuesday, in a scathing editorial titled Bihar's Shame, the Times of India newspaper highlighted the sorry state of hospitals in the state. It referenced a recent report that found that only half of all ventilators in government hospitals were functional and that Patna had just one government doctor for 11,541 people. That ratio is much worse in rural areas. — BBC
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