With four more babies dying, the number of crib deaths in Malda district hospital rose to 15 in the past 48 hours even as a high-level task force for mother and child care set up by chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited the hospital on Thursday to assess the situation.
Chairman of the task force Tridib Banerjee held a meeting with the principal and assistant superintendent of the hospital. The team also inspected the children’s ward which was overcrowded. The team was greeted with complaints from the parents of the babies admitted in the hospital. The complaints ranged from medical negligence to inadequate facilities to misbehaviour of the hospital staff.
“We paid a visit to the hospital and had a discussion with the authorities over the present situation. Most of the babies were admitted at the Sick Natal Care Unit (SNCU) in critical condition,” Dr Banerjee said. However, he also admitted that there is a dearth of infrastructure to address these emergency situation. “There is lack of staff, including specialised doctors and nurses,” Dr Banerjee added. Chief medical officer of health Swapan Kumar Jhariat informed that state health secretary Sanjay Mitra would also visit the hospital on Friday.
In Kolkata, the chief minister gave a clean chit to Malda district hospital and said that the seven babies who died on Wednesday were brought to the hospital in extremely critical condition. Ms Banerjee on Thursday once again claimed that her government had reduced the infant mortality rate by two per cent in the state and promised it would decrease it by 25 per cent in the future. “Among the seven infant deaths in Malda hospital, two were brought to the hospital dead, while the rests were almost dead. There was no scope for treatment. A new-born should have an average weight of 1.5 kilograms, but here the new-borns weighed between 500 to 700 grams, which is underweight,” the chief minister elaborated.
Ridiculing her claims, leader of Opposition Surjyakanta Mishra who is also the former health minister of the state said: “She has made a new discovery in India. Her claim regarding the reduction in the infant mortality rate in the state is also not true. The rate had decreased during the Left Front’s time. The chief minister’s explanation on baby deaths is not at all satisfactory.”