Five days after a fire killed five newborns at the state-run Rajindra Hospital and the district administration promised all help to the victims’ families, no official or a political representative has visited them. While the family of a victim had to pay the hospital dues on its own, the father of an injured child is worried about the mounting bill.

The families of the five infants, not even a week old when they perished in the fire at the hospital nursery on Saturday, are perturbed with the government apathy towards them.

“I have lost all faith in humanity after the incident. Politicians and the government are not bothered about the common people’s grievances,” said Amritpal Singh who lost his infant son. “All politicians visited the hospital only to have a glimpse of the burnt ward, they never bothered to visit the affected families,” he said.

A relative told Newsline that Amritpal was asked to clear the dues of his wife admitted in another ward on Saturday morning, barely hours after the fire. “We were so shaken after the incident but the hospital staff would not let us through without paying the bill. No one from the administration came to help us then. At that time, I was running from one department to the other to claim my infant son’s body,” Amritpal said.

“For the next few days, our entire neighbourhood and people from all walks of life visited us but no government official or anyone probing the matter bothered to help us,” said Amritpal’s brother Maninder Singh.

Mother of another injured boy, who is still under treatment, said the family has already spent Rs 15,000. Harpreet Kaur, a resident of Dudhan village, said: “My husband is a daily wage labourer and so far, we have not received any help from the government except that my child was admitted to a ward,” she said. “What if the health minister quit over the matter... who is going to pay for my child’s treatment? What are we supposed to do?” an aggrieved Harpreet said.

Talking to Newsline, Gurmeet Singh, SDM Patiala, said the administration had done everything for the families. “We made arrangements for the last rites of the infants who died. I cannot comment on who visited the families personally,” he added.

Infant succumbs to burns at PGI