New Delhi:
Though it was just a mouth ulcer, 25-year-old Mahinder decided to take his son to a doctor. It was Holi and everyone in north Delhi's Daya Basti was celebrating. While on their way to the local clinic, Mahinder, his wife Nisha and their two-year-old son Anuj were eager to get back to the festivities, completely oblivious of what fate had in store for them.
"Anuj was continuously crying and cribbing due to an ulcer in his mouth. As his pain increased and he didn't stop crying, we decided to take him to a nearby clinic for treatment," said Nisha Saroj, Anuj's mother.
Mahinder and Nisha took the infant to the Bhartiya Clinic at Daya Basti. "Unfortunately, the doctor was not present in the clinic at that time. A person named Sharad, who claimed to be the doctor's relative, said he too was a doctor. When we told him about Anuj's problem, he just administered a couple of injections to him. We asked him to recommend some medicines but he did not listen to us. Within a few minutes, our son died," said Mahinder.
Realising that something was amiss, the couple rushed Anuj to a hospital. "We took him to Hindu Rao hospital thinking that there may be a chance to save his life, but it was useless," added Nisha.
Both of them then returned to the clinic and asked Sharad to give them the name of the injection which he had administered to their son. But he refused to give them any prescription and even denied that he had made any mistake.
"When we called other people outside his clinic, he tried to bribe us and also passed lewd comments at my wife. "Bachcha hi to mara hai, tumhari wife to abhi bhi zinda hai' (only your son is dead, your wife is still alive), is what he told me," added Mahinder.
Since the day of the incident, both Sharad and the owner of the clinic Dr Kamla Prasad are absconding and the clinic is closed.
Mahinder has now filed a complaint against the doctor with Delhi Medical Council (DMC). "Our child cannot come back but we don't want other people to lose their kids because of such doctors," added Nisha.
In their complaint to DMC, the family has also mentioned that the police did not register their case. "We have received the complaint and will take necessary action against the culprit," said Dr Girish Tyagi, Registrar, DMC.
Police last Wednesday arrested a quack who accepted having performed surgical operations of penectomy (penile amputation) on more than 50 people in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida areas. Navi Mohammed (40) was arrested for conducting one such operation on 23-year-old Nadeem Mohammed, a resident of Modi Nagar, who became a victim to the rivalry between two eunuch groups.
"He injected something in my backbone which had an effect of numbness. Later, when I went unconscious, he performed the operation over my private parts," said Nadeem Mohammed.
Aggrieved by the incident, Nadeem's mother Salma filed a first information report (FIR) against the accused on February 12 at the Modi Nagar police station. The police had been looking for him since then and finally managed to arrest him on Wednesday.
The arrested quack said he was into the business for around 12 years and also claimed to have performed around 50 such surgeries with each fetching him between Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000.