Medical negligence: Kerala HC orders free medical aid, education to nine-year-old girl

Kochi: High court has ordered the state govt to provide free medical care and free education up to the age of 21 to a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly denied timely treatment for a fracture in her hand, leading to the amputation of the limb due to alleged negligence on the part of doctors at the Govt District Hospital, Palakkad.A bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar further directed that the govt shall ensure that the disability suffered by the child does not stand in the way of her securing employment in the future, noting that she is a victim of serious medical negligence at a govt hospital. The court was considering a PIL filed by P D Joseph, a social worker from Thrissur, seeking an inquiry into the alleged medical negligence on the part of doctors at the Govt District Hospital, Palakkad. The petition arose from an incident on Sept 24, 2025, in which Vinodini, a nine-year-old girl from Pallassana in Palakkad, was taken to the district hospital after she fell and fractured her right arm. The doctors allegedly applied a cast without noticing a wound near the fractured portion of the arm. The petitioner further alleged that the unnoticed wound later became infected and started bleeding. The next day, the child was again taken to the district hospital as she was suffering from severe pain. However, after administering certain medications, the doctors advised her parents to bring her back after five days. She was later taken to the Govt Medical College, Kozhikode, where her right hand had to be amputated as it had become severely infected.On perusing the state govt's affidavit, the court observed that the materials on record prima facie indicated medical malpractice in the treatment administered to the girl. Though two doctors were suspended from service following the incident, one of them approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal and secured an order quashing his suspension and directing that he be reinstated in service. It was also submitted that the govt proposed to file an appeal against the order.Additionally, the affidavit stated that the govt had received a report from an expert panel constituted in connection with the case and had decided to refer the report to the apex committee as required under the law. The govt had also provided immediate financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh from the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund for the child's further treatment and for providing a prosthetic hand.