A man, whose one-month-old girl died due to lack of adequate medical care, protested in front of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's residence on Saturday.
Venkatesh sat with the baby's photograph in front of the Chief Minister's house in Bengaluru, saying the girl developed health issues on July 11 and when he rushed her to a hospital, they were turned away.
According to the Bengaluru police, Venkatesh said that he had approached about a dozen hospitals and all of them refused to provide the baby with any medical care. Eventually, the baby died on the evening of July 13.
This forced Venkatesh to hold a protest to draw the Chief Minister's attention to the issue, the police said. The demonstration drew public attention and a few people joined him in the protest, they said. Later, he was taken away from the spot by the police.
The Times of India reported that Venkatesh’s one-month-old girl was suffering from cardiac complications, and that lack of timely intervention from doctors due to denial of admission led to her death.
He demanded that the state government take action against the hospitals that allegedly denied treatment to the infant.
The report also said that he had later gone to protest by sitting in front of the CM’s home-office Krishna. He withdrew his protest after police and staff from the CM’s office consoled him and told him to write a letter, which they will handover to the CM.
According to reports, Venkatesh and his wife had travelled for 36 hours in the city between last Sunday and Monday for over 200 km but was denied admission for their child in at least 10 hospitals.
It may be recalled how guards posted at the CM’s residence arranged an ambulance for a family of four after their efforts to arrange for one failed.
(This story was originally published on The News Minute and has been re-published in an arrangement with The Quint)
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