Days after his son died of Covid, BJP MLA waits to file FIR against hospital

An Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party legislator, who lost his son to coronavirus in April, said he had been trying for a month to get a first information report registered against a hospital for alleged negligence.

Rajkumar Agrawal, the MLA from Sandila in Hardoi district, claimed he had also written letters complaining about it to the chief minister and health minister.

Agarwal alleged that his 30-year-old son, who was admitted to a hospital in Kakori town in Lucknow district on April 22, died four days later due to negligence.

When contacted, Kakori inspector Brijesh Singh said he assumed charge only three days ago and he had not got the MLA's complaint.

He assured that a case would be filed after taking another complaint and the matter would be investigated.

Agarwal said his son's oxygen level was 94 in the morning of April 26, and he was eating and having a conversation.

"Suddenly, in the evening, doctors said his oxygen level was going down," the MLA said.

"My other two sons brought oxygen cylinders, but the doctors did not allow it to reach the patient."

"Despite much persuasion, oxygen was not taken and after a while, Ashish died. The carelessness of the hospital resulted in the death," Agarwal said.

The hospital was not immediately available for comment.

The legislator said he submitted a complaint to the Kakori police for registering a case against the hospital, but the police refused to file the report without a probe by the chief medical officer.

Agarwal claimed he also complained about it to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh.

A case has, however, not registered till now on the complaint given on April 26, he said, adding that that he also spoke to the DGP and the police commissioner, but to no avail.