Ailing 5-year-old boy dies waiting for bed at Firozabad hospital in UP

Agra: A five year old boy, identified as Hritik, took his last breath after waiting for a bed to become available at Firozabad hospital in Uttar Pradesh. He was suffering from high fever while the hospital was flooded with patients.

Reportedly, with cases of a ‘mystery disease’ in the district, the hospital occupancy has also increased. There are two or more patients occupying a single bed at the hospital due to which the five-year-old did not receive urgent medical care. Later after more than five hours of waiting for a bed, he died at the medical facility.

His father, identified as Rajkumar, is a daily wager who resides in Karbala. He was asked to pay Rs 40,000 in advance for the child’s treatment at private medical facility. Later when the hospital refused to start treatment before the advance payment was made, he took Hritik to the Firozabad Medical College.

As per a report of TOI, Rajkumar has said that he waited for a bed at Firozabad Medical College where Hritik died without treatment as there were no arrangements. The hospital staff handed over the body.

Since last three weeks Firozabad has been fighting the outbreak of dengue and deadly viral fever. Nearly 57 people, mostly kids, have died, while 404 people are still under treatment.