9 new-borns died in 8 hours in Kota, family members kept pleading for help

Shikha Chaurasia

Pune, December 11, 2020: In JK Lone Hospital in Kota, Rajasthan, between 9 am and 10:30 am on Wednesday night, 9 new-borns died in just 8 hours. All these new-borns were 4 to 5 days old. Family members allege that as the condition of the children worsened, we kept on asking for help, but the night duty staff kept sleeping. Even after repeated calls, the doctors did not come and on the contrary, we were scolded and banished.

At the same time, Medical Minister Raghu Sharma said that three children were brought dead, three children had congenital disease and three children died due to milk in their lungs. The Chief Minister and the Health Minister sought a report on the entire matter. At the same time, in the evening Divisional Commissioner KC Meena and Collector Ujjwal Rathod reached the hospital and inspected the wards.

The two officers held a meeting with Principal Dr Vijay Sardana, Additional Principal Dr Rakesh Sharma, Superintendent Dr SC Dulara, and HOD Dr AL Bairwa and discussed all aspects and gave necessary instructions. The surprising thing is that 10 new-borns died within 48 hours in this hospital in December last year and it became a matter of great discussion in the whole country.

Teams of ministers, officials and experts from the centre to the state government took stock of the matter. The hospital management has ordered a detailed investigation regarding the HOD of the Department of Paediatrics regarding all deaths.

All deaths occur when Mercury is lowest; Several warmers defective

Hospital sources said that the night temperature had reached around 12 degrees. There are 98 new-borns and 71 warmers. In this situation, almost every child needs a warmer, but despite the availability, 11 warmers are defective. Lack of warmer was also revealed last year. All the deaths on 10 December have occurred in the early winter.

Why warmers are not arranged before the onset of winter?

In this hospital, nebulizers also came in the number of 56, but 20 are defective. The condition of the infusion pump is also no different. 25 out of 89 are unusable.

Out of the nine new-borns who died, seven were born in the hospital and two came as a referral from Bundi. All children were 1 to 7 days old.

Now that so many deaths have taken place, various authoritative figures ranging from the collector to the medical minister are asking for the report. In such a situation, the question arises why necessary arrangements are not made before the onset of winter.