Nine more infants die in Kota hospital; death toll rises to hundred

At least nine more infants have died in the last at a government hospital in Kota, Rajasthan taking the death toll to 100 in December.

The death of ten children at JK Lon hospital during a 48-hour period on December 23-24 had triggered criticism from the opposition as well as a visit by a team from the national commission for protection of child rights.

Four children died on December 30 while five others lost their lives the next day.

According to hospital sources, all deaths have been attributed to low birth weight. The rising toll has led the Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot to set up a high-level committee of expert doctors and subject experts to inquire the case of deaths of newborns and submit a report at the earliest.

Health minister Dr Raghu Sharma said that the previous government had been inefficient in handling the matter in their tenure.

However, the medical authorities said the number of deaths reported at the health facility in 2019 has witnessed a decline since 2014 when 1,198 children had died. 

Meanwhile, a doctor from the hospital said that the nursing in-charge of the neonatal intensive care unit, which specialises in looking after premature and sick newborns, has now been replaced.

Medical college principal Dr Vijay Sardana said that an order has been issued for installation of a central oxygen supply line at the hospital to be completed within the next 15 days.

The deaths have taken political overtures after former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati indirectly criticised Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her "silence" on the incident.

Terming it as "extremely sad and painful," Mayawati on Twitter wrote that the Ashok Gehlot-led state government remains "insensitive and irresponsible towards it, which is extremely condemnable."

In another post, Mayawati said that what was "sadder" is the "top leadership of the Congress and, in particular, its woman general secretary" was silent on the issue.

Mayawati said like Uttar Pradesh, it would have been better if the general secretary would have met the mothers, who lost their children due to the negligence of the state government.