A Labasa mother is calling for transparency and accountability after her six-year-old daughter suffered a fractured right femur during a school physical education (PE) class.
Kartika Chand, 27, of Tuatua, Labasa, said her daughter, Misthi Singh, was injured on June 4 and has since been subjected to weekly medical reviews in Suva.
“I got a call from her class teacher saying that my daughter got injured but they didn’t tell me how serious it was,” she said.
“When I reached the school, I saw my daughter in severe pain. She couldn’t walk. I took her to Labasa Hospital’s Emergency Department on my own.”
According to Ms Chand, her daughter said she was shoved by another student, causing the injury, and claimed the teacher was not paying attention.
“That is from my daughter’s statement. She also gave the same statement to the police,” Ms Chand said.
Hospital records provided by Ms Chand show Misthi was placed on a 3.5kg skeletal traction for about six weeks at Labasa Hospital instead of undergoing surgery. She underwent repeated X-rays, orthopaedic reviews, pain management and physiotherapy.
However, the family became concerned that the femur was not properly aligned and formally requested the Ministry of Health to intervene for a specialist review.
The six-year-old was subsequently referred to the Colonial War Memorial (CWM) Hospital in Suva for specialist paediatric orthopaedic care.
Ms Chand said she had to take more than a week of unpaid leave to care for her daughter.
“The school gave us $370 as financial assistance. We appreciate it but it does not cover even one month of diapers and wipes, let alone the medical costs,” she said.
“We even had to survive on one meal a day just to manage hospital costs, travel and daily expenses.”
Ms Chand’s account was refuted by the class teacher, who claimed there was adequate supervision during the lesson.
“There was supervision. We had PE class and we were made to run. She ran, slipped and another girl fell on top of her,” the teacher said in a statement.
“She was taken to the classroom, and we applied ice on her right thigh, which was paining. We informed the assistant head teacher and I called the mum. Her grandmother came and they said they will take her to the hospital.”
The school management reiterated that the parents had signed a PE consent form.
“We did sign the PE consent,” Ms Chand said. “But we never signed up for my daughter to go to school and come back with a broken leg. No, that is not why I signed the consent form.”
Education Minister Aseri Radrodro said his ministry did not condone any form of harm to students.
“Please be advised that the MOE (Ministry of Education) has a zero-tolerance policy on student harm and abuse in the school’s vicinity, as articulated in its Child Protection Policy.”
