Crib deaths in state hospitals expose malaise
The recent spate of infant deaths at a Government-run hospital in Odisha is a matter of grave concern. Though the exact causes that precipitated the crisis are unclear, the tragedy must draw attention to the deplorable state of healthcare available to not just newborns but also expecting and new mothers across the country. Even as the authorities were investigating the death of as many as 51 babies over a period of just 11 days at Cuttack's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, reports came in from Andhra Pradesh's Guntur town that a 10-day-old baby boy had died after being bitten by rats at a public hospital.
Around the same time, authorities from Jharkhand's Jharsuguda district reported that, of the 3,000-plus babies born between January and May this year, 80 had died. All the babies were delivered in state-run facilities. The situation is hardly any better in neighbouring West Bengal where 12 babies died in less than a week this June at the Government-run Bankura Sammilani Medical College and Hospital. The State has an especially poor record of infant mortality, which has shown some but not enough improvement despite the authorities promising to take serious action after the 2011 incidents — 18 newborns died within 48 hours at Kolkata's BC Roy Hospital for Children in June, followed by another 24 infants who died within 72 hours in two Government hospitals in Murshidabad district in July.
In most cases, it is the same mix of problems and deficiencies that led to the deaths: At the hospital's end, they range from crumbling infrastructure and the lack of personnel to poor administration and a general sense of apathy that comes from the lack of accountability. But the hospital and its staff are not the only ones to be blamed. There are larger systemic issues that need to be addressed. Take, for example, the recent deaths at the Cuttack hospital: While we cannot rule out that a specific hospital-related problem (contamination, negligence) may have caused the tragedy, there is no looking away from the fact that the institution, popularly known as Shishu Bhavan, gets a large number of critical cases (that are often difficult to save) as it is the State's only referral paediatric hospital. The terrible state of healthcare in the hinterland means that institutions like Shishu Bhavan are always under stress.
Against this backdrop, it is perhaps no surprise that UN agencies have said that India is unlikely to achieve its Millennium Development Goal of reducing infant mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. Yes, India has improved its record over the decades (and some States like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have performed well), but a lot more needs to be done. Since a vast majority of the infant deaths happens in just six States — Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chhattisgarh — a targeted approach can hold the key to success.
