The child was denied treatment for an hour because the Vasai school staff refused to believe he had suffered a snake bite; he is now suffering from infection in the kidney and liver
Kshitij Negi was bitten by a snake at St Augustine's High School. Pics/Hanif Patel
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A 12-year-old who was bitten by a snake at school nearly lost his life because the school management did not rush him to hospital and instead waited for his parents to arrive. The child is currently suffering from kidney and liver infection, which his father has blamed on the school's actions.
The incident took place on July 12 at St Augustine's High School in Vasai, where Kshitij Negi is a Std VII student. At 7 am, Kshitij was on his way to class when a snake appeared from the bushes and bit him. As the students had been forbidden from going near the bushes, Kshitij kept mum on the incident.
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Didn't take it seriously
It was a classmate who noticed that Kshitij seemed low. When the boy began complaining of stomach pain and swelling in his legs, the classmate brought it to the teacher's attention. But the teacher allegedly refused to believe Kshitij's account of the snake bite. At 7.55 am, the staffers called the boy's parents to the school, but in the meantime, instead of taking him to hospital, they staff kept asking Kshitij whether he was sure it was a snake.
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"They wasted a lot of time before informing me. Even then, the school did not rush him to hospital but waited for me. It took me a good 15 minutes to reach the school, but the school staff just kept asking my son whether it was really a snake bite. He is my only child, what if something had happened to him?" said the boy's father, Rakesh Negi.
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An hour later...
"I arrived at 8:04 am and immediately took my child to Sir D M Petit Municipal Hospital, where he was given snake venom antiserum. Kshitij is on bed rest now; his test reports came today, and they show that he has infection in his kidney and liver. It was the school's responsibility to immediately rush my child to the hospital but they could care less. No one even called to ask how he was doing until they noticed that he had missed classes for a few days. After that, someone from the school called and apologised," alleged the father.
School says
"I am not aware of such an incident at our school, if it did happen, it is very bad. We will conduct an inquiry and action will be taken against those responsible," said Vinod Gaikwad, a trustee from St Augustine's school.
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