Hospitals turn away critically ill toddler

Three-and-a-half-year-old Varsha Kumari’s situation clearly shows the apathy of Delhi hospitals. The girl has been battling for life for the last two months as both her kidneys are failing. 

She has been taken to three different cities, and various hospitals, by her father, but all of them have referred her to the next best hospital. AIIMS has also refused to admit her due to unavailability of beds.

“She was fine until three, after which we started seeing signs of illness. She would often feel weak, there was swelling around her legs and her urine colour had changed,” said Rajkumar Rajak, Varsha’s father, a labourer who is a below poverty line (BPL) card holder and has been borrowing money for her treatment.

Since late April, the father and daughter, along with another 13-year-old daughter have shifted various cities for her treatment. On June 14, Varsha developed a very high fever running up to 105 degrees. Her father approached Emergency at AIIMS, where he was refused a bed.

Rajkumar brought Varsha to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where she was admitted into Emergency, but here she is only being treated for urine infection and fever while the main problem of renal failure remains.

“At RML we do not conduct adult to child kidney transplants, we refer all such cases to AIIMS,” said Doctor Himanshu Mahapatra, Head of Nephrology, RML.