MUMBAI, Oct. 7 -- For 27-year-old Shikha Devi from Thane, the last two weeks have been filled with fear and helplessness as she tried to save her 18-month-old son Priyanshu. The toddler is now in a coma after allegedly being denied treatment at two major civic hospitals, then Wadia Hospital, and then forced into expensive private care. Shikha and her three children moved to Thane from Uttar Pradesh after her husband died a few months ago. Her ordeal began when Priyanshu developed high fever in the second week of September. For nearly a week, the family gave him medicines at home and his condition seemed to improve. But, soon, he started vomiting continuously and began shutting his eyes. Panicked, the family rushed Priyanshu to major civic-run hospitals in Mumbai. At Sion Hospital, doctors allegedly told them Priyanshu needed an ICU bed but none was available. At KEM Hospital, they received the same answer. Wadia Hospital, a public charitable hospital, too, allegedly turned them away. "They kept saying there were no beds. He needed an ICU and they had no space for him, is what they told us. They asked us to figure it out on our own and go to a different hospital. I begged them, I cried, but nobody admitted him. We spent all night moving around in an ambulance with the child burning with fever, but no hospital gave us a bed," said his aunt, Phulmati Sahani, speaking for the family. By dawn, the ambulance driver took them to Sion Lions Club Hospital, a private facility. Priyanshu was diagnosed with fluid in the brain. He underwent surgery the next day. "Doctors told us he would wake up in four hours. But he never did. He has been unconscious since then," Sahni said. The bills soon spiralled. The family paid nearly Rs.1.75 lakh towards bed and doctors' fees and spent another Rs.1 lakh on medicines. After surgery, the hospital allegedly demanded Rs.6 lakh more for the treatment. "We told them we had already borrowed from everyone we knew. We had nothing left. We went there only because government hospitals refused us," Sahni said. For eight days, as Priyanshu remained in a coma, the family begged the hospital to reduce its demand. Finally, after a social worker intervened, the hospital reduced the bill to Rs.50,000. Once this was paid, the boy was discharged. On Friday night, he was taken to Sion Hospital, where doctors admitted him immediately given his critical condition. Since then, Priyanshu has undergone repeated CT scans, MRI scans and blood tests. The fluid has been cleared but he remains unconscious. Medicines, injections and even blood have allegedly had to be arranged by the family, as the hospital has allegedly asked them to source supplies from outside. "We expected a civic hospital to treat him fully. But even here we are told to buy medicines and everything ourselves," Sahni said. Shikha waits outside the ward. "She has stopped eating and drinking. She just sits silently," Sahni said. A senior official from Sion Hospital said, "Many times, there is no space in the ICU, so it might have happened we were unable to admit the patient earlier. As for the patient having to purchase medicines and arrange for blood, that is not right. They should meet us about it, and we will take appropriate action." KEM dean Sangeeta Ravat declined to comment until confirmation with the hospital. The CEO of Wadia Hospital did not respond to messages and calls from HT....