Srinagar: Finally, the health department has posted a paediatrician at Sub-district Hospital Ramnagar in Jammu’s Udhampur after 10 children lost their lives due to some mysterious diseases.
According to official sources, the children died allegedly due to negligence because the only hospital in the area—SDH Ramnagar has been running without a paediatrician despite repeated reminders and requests to the Director Health Services, Jammu.
“Some of the deceased children could have been saved with the timely intervention of some child specialist. But, there was no paediatrician available in the hospital to tend to the sick children,” a hospital employee told Kashmir Reader.
“The medical officer posted in the hospital couldn’t handle the unusual symptoms. It clearly pointed at the fact that some children who reached the hospital died due to negligence because there was no specialist to attend them at the hospital,” he added.
Most of the children had been referred to other hospital which forced their parents to ferry them to long distance.
At least 10 child deaths took place in many villages of Ramnagar block after they acquired some mysterious infection on January 8.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also deployed an expert team to the village to investigate the deaths. However, the team is yet to conclude the probe as microbiological examinations of various samples is pending.
Block Medical Officer Ramnagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad Tak admitted that the hospital was running without a paediatrician for many years. However, he denied the allegations that any negligence took place in attending to the sick children.
“We received four children at SDH Ramnagar who were very sick so MBBS doctors on duty referred them to medical college hospital for specialised treatment,” he added.

Manzoor ul-Hassan