MGM Hospital sources said that of the three babies who died in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on Saturday, one was admitted on August 19 and the others on August 23. All three died from pulmonary haemorrhage and were suffering from ailments like infection (septicaemia) and were underweight and premature. However, the common factor connected with the three deaths was that they were all placed in overcrowded radiant warmers soon after admission.
There is currently an acute shortage of radiant warmers/baby warmers in MGM’s NICU ward. On Saturday, only 13 of the 18 warmers were functioning here. “The NICU needs 12 more radiant warmers in view of the huge number of cases. We are forced to keep three babies under one warmer now,” said an employee. Insiders said that four to five radiant warmers are always out for repairs on any given day due to 24-hour usage.
The death of the other two children in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) was allegedly due to the use of ambu bags instead of ventilators, which the hospital seems to always be in short supply of. When contacted RMO Dr V. Vishnumohan admitted the five deaths but said that the babies had died due to low birth weight, septicaemia and poor health. “These babies are treated by private hospitals in unsterilised environments, which aggravate their condition,” he said.