A head constable attached to the Avadi Tank Factory police station raised a black flag near his residence in Muthapudupet on Saturday, protesting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Chennai and seeking justice for his 11-year-old daughter, whose health complications he has attributed to alleged medical negligence at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), Egmore.
The police personnel, identified as A Kothandapani, 42, was detained after staging the protest. According to the report, he had earlier protested in front of the State police headquarters and the Secretariat over the treatment of his daughter. The latest protest was held near his home in Muthapudupet.
Kothandapani said his daughter was diagnosed with kidney ailments when she was three years old. After she was treated and discharged, he said he continued administering medicines prescribed by doctors at ICH for about five years.
He alleged that the child later developed rashes on her foot and was taken to ICH twice in October 2021. Doctors subsequently shifted her to Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital. Kothandapani claimed that an incorrect diagnosis and medicines administered at the hospital caused burns to her feet.
He further alleged that dialysis was carried out without his permission, after which the child developed seizures and went into a coma before recovering. The allegations have not been established as medical negligence by the report. The account is based on Kothandapani’s claims, while the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) inquiry into his complaint reportedly found no medical negligence by doctors at ICH, Egmore.
The disagreement places the case within a wider public healthcare accountability problem: families seeking treatment in government hospitals must rely on institutional reviews when they believe a diagnosis, medication or procedure has worsened a child’s condition. In this case, the father has sought a Central Bureau of Investigation-Criminal Investigation Department inquiry into what he described as the injustice faced by his daughter.
The report does not specify whether any fresh inquiry has been ordered following Saturday’s protest, or whether the hospital, the police department or the state health authorities have issued a response to the latest allegations. The NCPCR finding remains the documented outcome cited in the report, while Kothandapani continues to seek further investigation into his daughter’s treatment.
