Image Courtesy: thehindu.com
The National Human Rights Commission has started the year by taking suo moto cognizance of the deaths of over 100 infants in a hospital in Kota, Rajasthan. This large scale death of babies reflects the deplorable neglect of healthcare in Rajasthan’s state-run JK Lon hospital in Kota.
The death toll of infants has reached 107 within a month’s time. Death of 10 children within 48 hrs between December 23 and 24 highlighted the issue and was brought to the fore by the opposition parties in Rajasthan. Additionally, four children died on December 30 while five on December 31, all mainly due to low birth weight, hospital superintendent Dr Suresh Dulara said.
The incident even triggered a visit by a team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Furthermore, a team of doctors from AIIMS, Jodhpur and some health economists have reached the Kota hospital to take stock of the situation. The high-level team has been sent by the Centre to assess the infrastructural gaps and measures to be taken to prevent further deaths and to ascertain how much funds will be required for strengthening the hospital’s infrastructure.
In its press release, the NHRC has taken note of news reports stating that over 50 per cent of the gadgets installed in the hospital are defunct and the hospital is lacking cleanliness and basic infrastructure including oxygen supply in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for infants.
In this regard, the NHRC has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report, within four weeks including the steps being taken to address the issue and to ensure that such deaths of the children do not recur in future due to lack of infrastructure and health facilities.
Statistics quoted by state authorities state that 963 children have died in the year 2019 at J.K. Lon government hospital while this figure was above 1000 in the preceding years.
Related: