Staff At Government Health Dispensary Refuses To Treat 10-Year-Old TB Patient In Ludhiana

A 10-year-old tuberculosis patient who had gone to take her routine dose at a health dispensary in Abdullapur Basti, Ludhiana, was allegedly refused by a staff to administer the dose.

The incident took place last week when Ajay Kumar, a cloth inspector at a private firm, went to the dispensary along with his sister, suffering from TB.

Ajay and his sister had shifted to Ludhiana from Uttar Pradesh a few years back. His sister was diagnosed with TB last year. "Medicines were discontinued due to some reasons, after which I started taking my sister to the local dispensary at Abdullapur Basti, run by the health department," said Ajay Kumar. The doctor told him that she would be given 24 injections, thrice in a week.

"All was going well. But last week, when I took my sister to the dispensary, the staff on duty refused to administer her injection following which I complained to district tuberculosis officer Dr Ashish Chawla about the behavior of staff," said Ajay.

Chawla said, "I got to know about the case of this girl. I have asked the patient's family to take her to a private DOT center where she will get the treatment for free." He added that at times auxiliary nursing midwives (ANMs) and pharmacists at the dispensary are not available due to their hectic duties.

Importantly, there is no doctor at the dispensary since the retirement of a doctor a few months back. The dispensary is already facing shortage of staff and patients have several times complained of staff's rude behavior at dispensary.

Source: Times News Network