Court pulls up state for infant deaths

Mumbai: Taking a suo motu cognisance of news reports about the high number of deaths at the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of a women’s hospital in Akola district, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the state government seeking its reply on the allegations made in the report that said that there was a lack of doctors and nurses in government hospitals in these areas which resulted in these infant deaths.

The Commission took notice of the facts mentioned in news that during 2016-17, 4,170 infants had to be admitted to the SNCU for different health complications. Of these, 1,472 children had died. Quoting Medical Superintendent it was stated that each month on an average 250 toddlers are admitted in the SNCU and considering this high number of admissions there is a need of more hands to give adequate treatment to these babies.

The NHRC in its notice, issued on October 23, has asked the state to respond to all the reported allegations within six weeks. The Commission observed that the statistics mentioned in the news, published in October, if correct, clearly indicate towards a shortage of doctors, nurses and other staff at the government hospitals. NHRC also said that the deaths of the newly born babies in such a large number, is indicative of gross negligence on the part of the state government, hospital management and the concerned departments. “This amounts to serious issue of violation of human rights of the innocent babies as well as their families and demands immediate time bound action by the state,” said the Commission.

The Commission has also sought details of steps taken or proposed to be taken to deal with the “gruesome situation”.