Hospital deny treatment for not producing Aadhaar card; Patient dies

Ambala, Dec 30: A hospital in Sonipat allegedly refused to treat the wife of a deceased soldier as the patient's Aadhaar card was not produced. She died on Thursady after being denied treatment.

A complaint filed in this regard stated that Sankuntala Devi – wife of Kargil martyr Lachman Dass – died on Thursday, a few days after she was denied treatment by the private hospital. A preliminary probe has already been carried out into the incident.

Health minister Anil Vij ordered an inquiry into the incident on Saturday.

Devi's son Pavan Kumar alleged that the hospital authorities did not admit her even after he showed them a scanned copy of the document on his mobile phone. "I begged them to begin treatment while I fetched her card, but they wouldn't budge," he said.

Hospital authorities have denied the allegation, stating that they would never turn away patients over an Aadhaar card. "The document is needed only for documentation purposes, not availing treatment," an official said.