The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that a six-year-old boy from Bihar’s Begusarai has been waiting for cardiac surgery since 2019 when he was three months old.

Doctors at AIIMS, New Delhi, have only been providing dates for the surgery on every visit by the boy’s family.

The NHRC has issued notices to the secretary in the Union ministry of health and family welfare and the director of AIIMS, New Delhi, seeking a detailed report within one week. The report is expected to include the boy’s current health status and the scheduled date of his surgery.

The commission has observed that the contents of the media report, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights.

The NHRC said AIIMS is one of the prestigious public-funded healthcare institutions where people across the country go with the hope of getting their loved ones treated by the best doctors.

The commission noted that it is aware of the constraints faced by the public hospitals across the country but it is still painful to know that the boy from Bihar has been waiting for the surgery for around six years despite his poor health condition. “This is indeed a matter of deep concern,” the NHRC said.