Nine newborn infants have died at a state-run hospital in Kota city of Rajasthan within a span of hours, officials said on Thursday, a year after the same facility had hit national headlines over the deaths of an unusual number of infants.
Five babies died during Wednesday night and four more on Thursday at the J K Lon Hospital. All of them were between 1-4 days old, the officials said, prompting Health Minister Raghu Sharma to order an inquiry.
Hospital Superintendent Suresh Dulara, however, claimed that the deaths were natural with no unusual or severe reason or infection.
As per the report forwarded to the health minister by the Kota Medical College Principal, three infants were brought dead to the J K Lon Hospital, as many died due to congenital malformations and the rest were sudden infant deaths, according to a statement.
Rajasthan: 9 newborns died at JK Lone Hospital in Kota in the last 24 hours. District Collector forms an Investigation committee.
"Out of 9 newborns, 3 were brought dead, 3 had congenital diseases & 2 were referred cases," says JK Lone Hospital Medical Superintendent, S C Dulara pic.twitter.com/oRp1R9PG4U
— ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2020
The parents of the deceased newborns alleged apathy and negligence by the medical staff of the hospital. “None of the paramedical staff or doctors saw my newborn son on Thursday morning and later when ECG was done, he was declared dead,” said a parent from Kota.
Divisional Commissioner KC Meena and District Collector Ujjawal Rathore visited the hospital on Thursday evening and held a meeting.
Mr. Meena directed the health authorities to immediately deploy six extra doctors and 10 nurses to monitor the situation and start a newly-constructed ward by Friday.
Officials said the hospital still faces a crunch of doctors.
“There is only one professor and one associate professor. There should be three professors and four associate professors for 120 beds. The assistant professor strength is 7 which is considered sufficient,” an official said on condition of anonymity.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is also expected to monitor the situation. Health Minister Raghu Sharma asked the officials to conduct a primary inquiry into the matter and sought a report. He has directed the principals of all medical colleges in the state to take special care towards the treatment of newborns.
Hospital officials have argued there was no major lapse in the treatment of infants. This is not the first time when the hospital staff has faced allegations of negligence. In 2019, nearly 100 infants had died at the hospital in just one month.
