Latur, November 05: A leg of a 13-year-old girl, who died of HIV, was allegedly eaten up by animals at a local Primary Health Centre, where her body was kept for performing autopsy.
The incident took place at Hasegaon village near here where the body of the orphan girl, who had been suffering from the deadly disease for the last four years, was kept for post mortem after she died last evening.
Ravi Bapatle, Director of Sewalaya Sewabhavi Sanstha, which takes care of HIV patients, today refused to take the custody of the girl unless action was taken against the guilty, following which the District Health Officer (DHO) R N Waghmare suspended concerned medical officer B S Banate. Bapatle told PTI that the condition of the minor girl deteriorated on Wednesday and she was admitted to the PHC in the morning.
She breathed her last in the evening and her body was kept in a room at the PHC, covered with a shawl overnight.Her left leg was found missing today. The DHO said the leg of the girl seemed to have been eaten up by an animal, probably a dog and added that he would soon initiate action against other employees found guilty in the matter.
Sources said that Banate had not visited the PHC even once in the last two days and only a nurse N R Chafe and ward assistant SB Bhonsle were present on duty. The PHC is in a bad state and the room where the girl was kept does not have a latch and was closed using a string, they said. A case has been registered and further investigations are on.
——–PTI