HYDERABAD: A three-and-half-year-old victim of sexual abuse from an international pre-school at Madhapur was reportedly made to wait for around six to seven hours at the Niloufer Hospital, to get her crucial medical examinations done.

The victim was referred from the Kondapur area hospital to Niloufer for preliminary examinations. According to law, the examination should be done at a government hospital.

At Niloufer, the child and her mother had to wait for long hours for the basic tests that are vital for investigations. The child was too small and impacted and wasn’t cooperating with nurses. Despite that, the tests were incomplete, and she was asked to come the next day. The child’s parents were reluctant to the same after all the trouble they had to go through.

The child was allegedly touched in her private parts and abused with stones placed inside her genitals by the school’s female support staff. An official assisting the victim’s family stated that the victim and her mother had to go through intense mental trauma as they were made to wait for long hours. Even after meeting one doctor, they were sent to several other doctors for check up, which aggravated the child.

The mother and the victim could finally return by 10 in the night. Officials note that the situation is the same in all POCSO cases. Isidore Phillips, Director of DivyaDisha which managed Childline, noted that this is the usual scenario for every POCSO case. The staff is not adequately trained on how to deal with a child. They are insensitive towards the patients and fail to consider that their actions can cause even more trauma. The medical and health machinery have a long way to go before they can assist the distressed parent.