Nine newborn babies have died at the Rajasthan government’s JK Lon Hospital in Kota in two days – five on Wednesday night and four on Thursday – prompting the hospital to order a probe into the deaths.
Rajasthan’s health minister Raghu Sharma has also sought a report from the Principal of the Medical College Kota (MCK) into the death of the babies.Sharma gave strict instructions to the hospital administration for proper care of the newborns and warned of strict action for negligence.JK Lon Hospital superintendent Dr SC Dulara said most of the deceased newborns, aged between 1 and 5 days, either had congenital disorders or ailments.
Out of the nine deceased newborns, two were referred from Kapren in Bundi district with septic shock and three were brought dead to the paediatric unit. Three newborns had congenital ailments — one had oligohydramnios with renal anomaly, one had placenta praevia and the other had anencephaly. One newborn was suffering from intrauterine growth restrictions (IUGR) with refractory hypoglycemia,” he said.“The head of the pediatric department will conduct a probe into the deaths.”Dr Dulara said more than 30 deliveries take place every day at JK Lon Hospital and on an average there are 2 to 3 newborn deaths daily. “However, nine deaths of newborns in 24 hours cannot be termed normal,” he said.
Newborns are referred to JK Lon Hospital not only from four districts of Kota division but also from neighboring districts and even from Madhya Pradesh. A total of 1,700 newborns had died at JK Lon Hospital in 2019, which was the lowest in its previous five years. Current year’s data is being compiled,” he said.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.“My nephew was born three days ago at the hospital but the staff did not look after the baby properly,” alleged Jitendra Kumar (30) from Kapren in Bundi.
The hospital claimed that infrastructure and resources have improved.“The Rajasthan government is constructing a 150-bed pediatric hospital and indoor OPD unit on the campus of JK Lon Hospital for ₹30 crore under the smart city project. There is no dearth of nursing staff; we have 73 nurses against the requirement of 75,” Dr Dulara said.“Out of the 481 medical equipment in the paediatric unit, 383 are working and the rest are being repaired. Out of 71 body warmers, 60 are working; 41 pulse oximeters out of 43 and 15 ventilators out of 24 are also functional.”He said a new central oxygen supply line has been laid after 100 infants died last December.
