Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday apologised to the family of 14-year-old swine flu victim Reeda Shaikh, stating that her family had misunderstood his statement.
Azad had earlier in the day come under attack from the Reeda's family, which accused him of being insensitive towards her and demanded an apology from him.
"He (Azad) says that Reeda went to three hospitals and may have spread the infection to some 85 others. I am asking him to name the three hospitals. It was only after the death of my daughter that alertness grew. He is being irresponsible," Shireen Shaikh, mother of the girl who died in Pune on August 3, told a press conference.
She was responding to Azad's remarks in an interview to Doordarshan that quarantine was essential to prevent the spread of the disease and that the girl may have passed on the virus to 85 other people during her visits to three hospitals.
Shireen had demanded that the minister 'should either apologise or resign' for his comments.
Reeda's aunt Ayesha said, "It is very irresponsible of Azad to say that Reeda Shaikh may have given the virus to as many as 85 people. How can he say such a thing about a 14-year-old girl? Did Reeda go to Mumbai, where a woman died of swine flu? Doesn't he have children? How can he be so irresponsible," 30-year-old Ayesha, a housewife, said.
"It is one thing sitting in an air-conditioned office and saying all sorts of things about other people's children," she said.
If the minister does not tender an apology, the family members would stage a protest to demand his resignation, an indignant Ayesha said.
"We are not irresponsible parents. Our only fault was that we trusted the doctors blindly," she said.
Reeda's mother fainted when she heard the Union Minister making such "irresponsible remarks," Ayesha claimed.
"We have children of four and six years in the family with whom Reeda played but they are alright. Azad's charges are baseless," she said.
The state health directorate has issued show cause notices to Jehangir and Ruby hospitals in Pune where Reeda was treated.
Reeda was admitted to Jehangir Hospital on July 26 and remained there until she died on August 3. Her family has said the doctors decided to send her blood samples to Ruby Hall Clinic on July 29.
After the clinic sent negative reports, the doctors sent the throat and nasal swabs to National Institute of Virology the same day. She tested positive for H1N1 on July 31.
Reeda's father, Sajid Shaikh (45), a businessman, blamed "sheer negligence" on the part of Jehangir hospital staff for his daughter's death.
"Had the hospital authorities kept us informed about the tests and taken appropriate action, her life could have been saved. They were treating her with antibiotics when she was suffering from swine flu," he said.
