Over 100 Infants Die In Congress Ruled Rajasthan
KOTA : In what seems to be a shocking rerun of Gorakhpur hospital tragedy in 2017 where hundreds of infants died of encephalitis, death toll at Kota’s J K Lon Hospital has crossed the 100-mark in the month of December. Reports suggest at least nine more infants died in the last two days.
The number of infant deaths in the same hospital in December 2018 was 77, the hospital authorities said. “At least nine newborns and infants have died in J K Lon Hospital on December 30 and 31.
The number of kids’ deaths in December has reached 100,” the hospital superintendent, According to Dr Suresh Dulara “On December 30, four kids died and on December 31 five kids died. All of them died mainly due to low birth weight and birth weight hypothesis.”
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today discussed the tragedy with Avinash Pandey, who is the chief of the Rajasthan Congress. He reported that Mrs Gandhi is “upset” and “wanted to know the reason of the deaths”.
The Congress government is under attack over the Kota tragedy from political opponents like Yogi Adityanath and Mayawati
Assuring all support to the state, Union health minister Harshvardhan said the Centre is sending a high-level team that would include experts from AIIMS Jodhpur.
“It will reach #Kota tomorrow,” he tweeted. He, however, said the number of deaths is “definitely higher this time compared to last few years”. The state government in its report admitted that some of the incubators at the hospital used for newborns were not in proper working condition.
On Tuesday, the Rajasthan government ordered hospitals attached to medical colleges to check the functional status of all medical equipment and send reports. According to hospital reports, 10 infants died between December 23 and 24, 2019. Thus far, 77 babies have died in December alone, another 101 in November, and a stunning 940 in 2019.
The problem came to light when Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, the member of parliament from Kota, tweeted, “The untimely death of 10 infants in 48 hours in my parliamentary constituency’s JK Lon Hospital is a matter of concern. Rajasthan government should take action immediately and handle the situation sensitively.”
Ashok Gehlot said, “Death of even one child is unfortunate but there have been 1,500-1,400 deaths in a year in the past, this time the figure is 900. There are daily few deaths in every hospital in the state and the country, nothing new. Action is being taken.”Made with Flourish The opposition has called his statement “insensitive” even as Gehlot has insisted that his remarks were taken out of context.
The Government of Rajasthan has set up a high-level committee to look into the deaths at the hospital. Vaibhav Galriya, the secretary of the medical education department, also paid a visit to the institution, and noticed out several lapses, including lack of oxygen lines and a shortage of proper equipment.
Instructions have been given for maintenance of equipment. Shortage of oxygen lines in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has also come to light. When there is no line for oxygen, patients need to be provided oxygen cylinders inside NICU, which is a bit risky from infection perspective. Orders have been issued for installation of oxygen lines in the NICU … It has also come to light that during monitoring of infection, the frequency of sampling was not adequate.
The JK Lon hospital’s infection monitoring report. Fourteen samples that doctors collected from various sensitive and critical parts of the hospital were found to have disease-causing bacterial and fungal populations. Some of these contaminated surfaces were found in such sensitive areas as the NICU, the paediatric intensive care unit and the emergency operation theatre.
According to reports in the local media, some 320 out of 533 pieces of critical equipment at the hospital, including ventilators, nebulisers, resuscitation machines, sleep apnea machines, spirometers, infusion pumps and heaters, were found to have been in disrepair.
The hospital in Kota is about 250 kms from the state capital of Jaipur. CM Gehlot today tweeted: “Govt cites figures to say child casualties in JK Lon Hospital in Kota have reduced to 963 this year from 1260 in 2015 and 1193 in 2016 when the state was ruled by BJP. In 2018, 1005 children lost their lives here”.
On December 27, the team led by the state’s Medical Education Secretary. found lapses in the incubation unit of the neonatal unit. The units were not working properly, and the hospital placed two infants into one incubator due to the shortage.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs ).
