Body of 15-yr-old AIDS patient eaten by dogs

The incident has sparked outrage and led to protests by the NGO which was looking after the girl.

A 15-year-old girl with AIDS in Hasegaon village in Maharashtras Latur district died on Wednesday allegedly because there was no doctor at the local Public Health Centre (PHC) to treat her. Authorities at the centre then decided to conduct an autopsy the next morning but did not move her body to the mortuary and left it in the hospital,where a dog attacked it in the night and bit her leg off.

The incident has sparked outrage and led to protests by the NGO which was looking after the girl,forcing the district health officer to initiate action against five PHC staff.

Hasegaon village had made national headlines last year after nine HIV+ children from the NGO,Sevalaya,were boycotted by parents of more than 150 children at the local government school after the nine got admission there. The parents did not want their children to study in the same school and wanted to move them out to other schools if the HIV+ students continued to study there. They were brought around after sustained counseling and a general campaign about HIV by the government.

The 15-year-old victim,Sumedha Patil,was also a resident of Sevalaya but she had not been going to school because of her poor health. An orphan from neighbouring Beed district,she had been hospitalised several times in the last two months. This week,she was suffering from severe diarrhoea and was taken to the Public Health Centre when her condition worsened on Wednesday morning. With allegedly no doctor at the centre to treat her,she died around 5.30 pm on Wednesday,Sevalaya officials said.

Hospital authorities then said that the post mortem would be conducted on Thursday morning and kept the body in the hospital instead of the mortuary. According to health officials and NGO workers,a dog attacked her body and bit off her leg in the night,which was discovered by hospital authorities on Thursday.

There was no doctor at the centre to take a look at her when we admitted her. Through the day,no doctor examined her. Later they said the post mortem would be done on Thursday morning. When we went to the PHC on Thursday morning ,we realised this had happened. We have demanded that severe action be taken against those responsible, said Ravi Bapatley,head of Sevalaya.

Dr R N Waghmare,Laturs District Health Officer,said that two auxiliary nursing and midwifery (ANM) workers and one assistant had been suspended for negligence. Action had been initiated against the medical officer on duty recommending his suspension and the taluka medical officer had been served with a show-cause notice for providing false information,said Waghmare.

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Waghmare said that the PHC doctor claimed she had applied for leave but it had not been approved,the ANMs did not report the admission or the death to senior health officials and the taluka health officer allegedly gave incorrect information to seniors when asked about the incident. Waghmare added that an inquiry had been launched over the incident and a police complaint would be lodged depending on the outcome of the inquiry. Meanwhile,Bapatley said he had filed his complaint with the Ausa police station.