In This Rajasthan Hospital, Where 940 Children Have Died, Over 50 Per Cent Equipment Not Working; CM Gehlot Says ‘Nothing New’

Kota district in Rajasthan has been rattled by death of infants in a local government hospital. However, the Ashok Gehlot government seems to have been given a long rope by sections of state media and opposition on this matter.

According to a report in India Today, 12 infants died last week in J K Lone Hospital, 77 this month alone until 24 December, and a total of 940 until the publication reported the tragedy on 28 December.

The deaths have sparked serious concerns about hospital inadequacies and erring doctors. According to this report in the Times of India, “over 50 per cent of the gadgets” in the Kota hospital where children have been dying, are defunct.

The report says that 13 out of 19 ventilators are not working, 81 out of 111 infusion pumps are out of order, 44 out of 71 warmers do not work, and 22 out of 28 nebulisers don’t function. Only six of the 38 oxymeters that the hospital has are working, and equipment required for x-ray is also not in working condition.

According to a report submitted to the principal of Government Medical College, Kota, out of 533 equipment, 320 were found to be not working.

The hospital is also short of staff. A Times of India report says that the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital, which should have a staff strength of 32 as per the norms of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has only 20 employees.

The report says: "Out of the ten infants, who died between December 23 and 24, five were newborns while the other five were up to one year old, officials said later."

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla took note of the situation and urged "Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to act 'sensitively' on the issue".

Birla, who represents Kota Lok Sabha constituency, said on Twitter that the infant deaths in the Kota hospital are a matter of deep concern and that steps should be taken towards making adequate medical arrangements to avoid such a situation in future.

Chief Minister Gehlot was in the news for an insensitive statement on the tragedy that continues to unfold in Kota. "Deaths happen every year, happen in Jaipur too, there was nothing new about it,” the Chief Minister had said, according to ABP News.

Following the uproar, Gehlot, it is reported, pressed state Health Secretary Vaibhav Galriya into action. Galriya took stock of the situation at the hospital.

However, the hospital authorities seemed to voice the matter with a sense of familiarity and, as the report quotes, described as "not an unusual trend".

Galriya is quoted in the report as saying: "action against the officials held responsible for the deaths would be initiated following receipt of the detailed report by the high level committee set up to investigate the matter."

He formed a three-member panel to investigate the matter and asked for a report in 48 hours. He said that action will be taken against the "erring doctors" after the findings of the report are received.

As per a PTI report in The Week, deficiencies and inadequacies were pinned on "inadequate supply of oxygen to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit".

In addition to that, "infection-prone wards devoid of regular fumigation and upkeep measures and inadequate upkeep of vital medical equipment" were the reasons that might have triggered the deaths.

According to this report, the hospital, in its initial report on the death of 10 children between 23-24 December, "claimed that five newborns, who died on the two days, were just a day old, and had been brought to the hospital in critical conditions."

They were suffering from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, due to which an infant's brain fails to receive adequate oxygen and leads to septicemia. They died within a few hours of their admission.

The report also mentions that the cause of the death of a five-month-old baby on 23 December was severe pneumonia; of the death of a seven-year-old — acute respiratory distress syndrome, and another death, of a 45-day-old baby — complex cyanotic congenital heart disease.