Abu's death due to dengue shock syndrome occurred on early Friday, 4 am to be precise.
The body of three-year-old Abu Sufiyan was languishing in the morgue of civic-run KEM Hospital at Parel until late evening on Saturday, amidst the stir by Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors demanding arrest of the deceased's father and three others for allegedly assaulting the doctors who attended to the boy.
Abu's death due to dengue shock syndrome occurred on early Friday, 4 am to be precise. "His body was handed over to us only at 5.30 pm on Saturday, after 36 hours. When we approached the KEM doctors at 10 am on Saturday, asking for our child's body, we were told to come later in the evening," said a relative of the deceased.
"The relatives did approach us in the morning for handing over the body; however, they were demanding that the post-mortem should be conducted in JJ Hospital. We were awaiting a memo from the Bhoiwada police station in this regard to release the body. The memo arrived at 4 pm and later the body was released," said Dr Avinash Supe, dean, KEM Hospital.
Abu's body was sent to state-run JJ Hospital for post-mortem on family's demand late evening on Saturday after 5.30 pm.
Dr Puneet Garg, one of the doctors who was attacked said, "The child was brought in shock with no recordable pulse. We told the parents that no ICU beds were available. However, we attended to the child in emergency. The child was put on oxygen support and started on fluids. Later, the child was shifted to general ward and kept under close monitoring but later succumbed."
Meanwhile, holding patients to ransom, close to 800 resident doctors (post graduate medical students) in KEM Hospital stopped work and entered an indefinite strike. On a daily basis, KEM hospital sees close to 3,000 new cases in Outpatient Department. "On Saturday, up to 2,500 patients were attended to. In absence of resident doctors' workforce, the lecturers and interns handled the show," said Dr Supe. This is the fourth such incident of resident doctors shunning work in a medical college in the state, since January this year.
While the Bhoiwada police had arrested deceased's father Mirajjudin and uncle Zunaid Qureshi, the accused were released on bail later in a special holiday court hearing. The other two accused are absconding till date.
On Saturday, Vinod Tawde, state minister of medical education instructed the Mumbai police to file a stronger case against the accused. "They had not been booked under Section 326 of the IPC, in spite of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons," said Dr Sagar Mundada, president, Central MARD. After a lapse of 24 hours, the police due to increasing pressure from the state government and doctors, demanded a medical report examining the injuries sustained by the doctors. "A medical examination report was submitted to the police after they asked for it. On the basis of the report, they will be able to file a stronger case," said Dr Supe.
"The medical report revealed that the three doctors -- Dr Puneet Garg, Dr Kushal Sharnagat and Dr Suhas Chaudhary -- had sustained blunt trauma injuries (hit by iron rods), which led to swelling on head, lower chest and back," said senior doctor in KEM hospital who had examined the injured doctors.
In what could leave lives of thousands of patients in a lurch in Maharashtra, central MARD has threatened to embark on a state-wide strike, where 4,500 resident doctors from 14 medical colleges will shun work, if all the four accused are not arrested by the police until 8 pm on Sunday. "If resident doctors enter indefinite strike, the patient care will be hugely affected come next week," said Dr Supe.
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