Nine-year-old girl faints in class room, dies of suspected heart attack

JAIPUR: A nine-year-old girl collapsed and died of a suspected heart attack. Prachi Kumawat (9), a fourth-class student, collapsed in her classroom. The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon at her school in Rajasthan’s Jaipur. She fainted and fell in the classroom while opening her tiffin box at lunch time. She was taken to a nearby primary health center but her life could not be saved. Doctors said the cause of death was heart attack.

The family said Prachi did not have any serious health issues. However, they said she had fever a few days ago. Meantime, the school authorities said that when she came to the school on Monday, she was looking healthy. Doctors said that her heart had stopped beating when she was brought to the hospital, and that CPR, oxygen and other necessary medicines were given. The doctor said that such problems occur very rarely in children.

Doctors suspect that the child may have had a pre-existing heart condition that went unnoticed, which led to the heart attack. The family did not want to send the girl's body for postmortem, so the body was handed over to the family for the last rites.