After Gorakhpur , 49 infants die in one month in Farrukhabad Govt. hospital
died over the past one week, in Gorakhpur district on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI8_14_2017_000144B)
FRRUKHABAD (UP): Forty-nine infants died in a month in the Farrukhabad district hospital, most of them from “perinatal asphyxia”, a condition in which the child cannot breathe properly, officials said today. In a virtual replay of the tragedy in Gorakhpur, where 30 children died in two days in a state-run hospital last month, parents of many of the children in Farrukhabad told officials there was a delay in providing oxygen and medicines.
According to the government spokesperson, 461 women were admitted to the district women hospital between July 20 and August 21. These women gave birth to 468 children. Among these, 19 were still-born. Out of the remaining 449 infants, 66 critical infants were admitted to the new-born care unit out of which 60 infants recovered while six expired.
In addition, 145 infants were admitted to the hospital after being referred by other hospitals and nursing homes. Out of 145, 121 regained health. Between July 21 and August 30, 49 new born children died, including 19 still-born.
The hospital recorded 49 deaths — 30 in neo-natal ICU and 19 during delivery — between July 20 and August 21, an official spokesperson said in Lucknow. The state government today removed Farrukhabad District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar as well as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Umakant Pandey and Chief Medical Superintendent (MS) Akhilesh Agarwal. An FIR against the CMO and the CMS was registered last night in Farrukhabad.
“A high-level team will be sent to Farrukhabad to probe the deaths and its technical aspects will also be taken care of. Taking note of the incident, the DM, the CMO and the CMS (women’s hospital) have been removed,” the spokesperson said. He said 468 deliveries took place in the women’s wing of the hospital during the period. Of these, 19 were stillbirths.
In his complaint to the police, Mr. Jain said: “Mothers and relatives of the dead newborns told investigators via telephone that doctors did not put the oxygen tube on time and did not provide medicine, which makes it clear that most of the children died due to lack of sufficient oxygen supply.”Mr. Jain further implicated the CMS and CMO for neglecting directions and not providing adequate information into the deaths of children in the SNCU ward over the last six months as instructed by the DM.
City Magistrate Jaynendra Kumar Jain and SDM Ajit Kumar Singh said a probe found that most deaths were due to breathing problems. They also said in the report that the CMO and the CMS did not cooperate with the investigation.
he children died due to lack of adquate supply of oxygen,” the report stated.The report did not mention the remaining 19 deaths. Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference today, Principal Secretary (Health) Prashant Trivedi said the deaths had “nothing to do with oxygen supply”.
Principal Secretary (Information) Awanish Awasthi, who was also present, said, “…19 were still born children while 30 others died due to various causes, including perinatal asphyxia. This may be caused by the umbilical cord going around the neck of the child… Our medical team will look at it.”
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office took prompt notice of the matter after local news channels reported the deaths of 49 children in the hospital and directed the district magistrate to conduct a probe, officials said. News of the deaths in the Farrukhabad hospital comes after at least 30 children died in a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur on August 10-11 amid allegations of oxygen shortage, a charge stoutly denied by the state government.
