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Asthmatic girl dies, school blamed
Modern School Student’s Family Alleges Delay In Taking Her To Hospital
Manash Pratim Gohain | TNN
New Delhi: The death of a Class XII student of Modern School, Vasant Vihar, after an asthmatic attack on Monday morning, has led to a controversy with the family and friends of the deceased alleging negligence by the school authorities. Aakriti Bhatia (17) died on her way to the hospital. The school has denied the allegation.
Aakriti had complained of breathlessness to her teacher around 10am and after nine minutes she called to inform her mother. Later, when Aakriti’s condition deteriorated, she was shifted to the sports room and was put on oxygen. However, around 10.40am, when she was taken to the Holy Angels Hospital — around 2 km from the school — she was declared brought dead.
According to Dr Rajnish Bharti, CMO, Holy Angels: ‘‘By the time she was brought to us, she was dead. We will know the exact cause after the postmortem report. It could have been a cardiac arrest or a severe case of respiratory distress.’’
However, Aakriti’s family is alleging negligence on the part of the school administration. The parents have now said they would file a case against the school.
Speaking to Times City on Tuesday, Goldy Malhotra, principal, Modern School, said the school acted according to the situation and that Aakriti’s mother had called them to send her child home. ‘‘Aakriti is an old case of asthma and was finding it difficult to breathe on Monday morning. She called home in between and then met the class teacher who took her to the sports room as the clinic is on the first floor. Lilly Kutty, the nurse, administered oxygen. Aakriti then felt slightly better and spoke to her father after which she was taken to Holy Angels at 10.40am. A little bit of time was lost due to the traffic but she collapsed on the way,’’ said Malhotra.
Aakriti’s parents are friends are accusing the school of a delay in taking her to the hospital. They also alleged that the school doesn’t have a regular doctor and that the clinic is ill-equipped to manage crisis situations. Moreover, questions are being raised on why the school waited for the vehicle of Aakriti’s father, Vipin Bhatia, to arrive and didn’t call for an ambulance. Bhatia said: ‘‘While there was no doctor available in the school to attend to any emergency case, the school didn’t call the ambulance. Moreover, they took my daughter to the hospital without oxygen.’’
Aakriti’s friends, meanwhile, said that when she first complained, the headmaster didn’t take the matter seriously and later the nurse said she can’t come down to take a look at Aakriti.
‘‘The nurse refused to come down and asked her to come up instead. Later, when her condition deteriorated, we forced her to come down. No one in the school was concerned,’’ said one of Aakriti’s close friends.
Raman Verma, Aakriti’s maternal uncle, alleged that the principal was putting pressure on the parents and students to prevent them from speaking to the media and police on what actually transpired during those 40 minutes that resulted in Aakriti’s death. ‘‘At the hospital, the principal asked us to give in writing that we have nothing against the school,’’ said Verma.
Some students have threatened to stage a demonstration on Wednesday at 1.40pm against the school administration for its alleged negligence. The Bhatia family said it would pull out Aakriti’s brother from the school. He studies in Class V.