A Six weeks old baby passed away on Monday at the Largyab Basic Health Unit (BHU) in Dagana. The bereaved father shared about it on Facebook last evening and it has gone viral. Condolences and allegations regarding the post filled the social media.
According to the post, the father of the deceased is from Largyab Gewog, one of the remotest gewogs in Dagana. In the post, he claimed that upon requesting Drukjeygang BHU’s ambulance to help refer his daughter to the Tsirang Hospital, the call for help failed because the ambulance was stranded without fuel in it. He told BBS that his baby girl was admitted in the Largyab BHU at 11 am on Monday and passed away at around 5 pm in the evening.
According to the official of the BHU, the medical team, upon inspection, found the baby’s condition critical at arrival. Then in consultation with the pediatricians, they were advised to refer to Tsirang Hospital. The officials called the Drukjeygang BHU to mobilize the ambulance but it had no fuel to run. Then they requested the ambulance from Tsirang hospital, which is about 70 kilometers away from the Largyab BHU. The ailing baby breathed her last when the Tsirang ambulance reached Kompa, about 23 kilometers to reach the BHU.
Meanwhile, the Dzongkhag stated that due to delay in the release of fuel budget of July after implementation of the electronic Public Expenditure Management System (e-PEMS), the ambulance was not able to refill it and moreover, the fuel depot is located far away from the gewog, refilling was not convenient immediately.
