AMN /
Close on heel of Gorakhpur’s BRD hospital incident, similar reports have come from Farrukhbad where at least 49 newborn children have lost their lives in a month due to lack of oxygen and medical negligence at the government-run Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital.
This is the second such case in the state after deaths of children were reported in Gorakhpur BRD medical college recently. An Fir has been registered against the Chief Medical Officer of the district and the Chief Medical Superintendent of the hospital in connection with the case.
Of these, 30 children at the Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital died in the neonatal critical care unit and 19 in the delivery room.
The deaths, an official confirmed were due to poor treatment, lack of attention and paucity of oxygen.
Following a preliminary report by the senior district administration, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office had ordered stringent action against the errant doctors.
According to HINDUSTAN TIMES During this period, 211 children were admitted at SNCU and 30 of them died. Similarly, 461 children were born at the hospital and 19 of them could not survive.
Dr Kailash Kumar, the SNCU in-charge, mentions many reasons for the deaths ranging from children born prematurely to being underweight.
“Mortality in such children is quite high. Often, we get children who weigh less than a kilo or two kilos,” he said.
“At times, the children are born with complications or there is a delay in being referred to the hospital from primary health centres. All these are the reasons,” he said.
But Dr Archana, who works in the hospital’s maternity wing, blamed lack of awareness among the mothers. “They (mothers) are not educated, not aware. Their children have water or blood deficiency but they will not come to know unless the issue becomes complicated,” she said about the deaths of 19 infants under her watch.
“Often they delay the surgery, taking much time in deciding if they should go for it,” she said.
Dr Akhilesh Agarwal, chief medical superintendent of women hospital, explained that 24 of the 30 children who died were born in private hospitals or elsewhere. When they were brought to the government hospital, their condition was already grim, Dr Agarwal said.
The medical authorities, however, skirt questions about the death of 19 children who were born at the hospital. They haven’t responded to 19 notices that the district magistrate’s office sent after reports of children dying in hospital began to surface.