A three-member panel led by deputy director of medical education has been formed by Gujarat Government on Sunday to probe into deaths of nine children in 24 hours at Ahmedabad civil hospital.
“This is a very sad incident and we have already appointed a panel to look in to the reasons. We will immediately initiate steps to overcome any negligence or lacunae found by the panel,” Chief Minister Vijay Rupani told mediapersons. “However, prima facie, it appears that the case is not about lack of availability of medicines or medical facilities.”
The committee is now expected to look at the prima facie reasons for the deaths and is expected to submit its report in a day.
Meanwhile, in New Delhi the Congress demanded Vijay Rupani’s resignation over the deaths and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah should be held accountable for infant deaths across the country. The party also demanded a court-monitored probe into the deaths of babies at the civil hospital.
Deaths of nine newborns were reported from civil hospital, that is touted to be one of the biggest in Asian region, in a day on Saturday. This had led to hectic parleys by the State administration and police were also deployed at the hospital.
Of the nine children who died, four of them were born in the hospital, while the other five were brought to it from over distant places and suffered from “extremely low birth weight” complications, while some suffered from life-threatening diseases and were in critical condition, the Government said in a release on Sunday.
“Of the nine deaths in 24 hours, five babies were referred from distant places — lunawada, Surendranagar, Mansa, Viramgam, Himmatnagar — and were having severe life threatening conditions such as extremely low birth weight (around 1.1 kg), hyaline membrane disease, early onset septicaemia and disseminated intra-vascular coagulation,” the release stated.
Besides, the four babies born at the hospital were said to have “died due to lethal complications such as severe birth asphyxia and meconium aspiration.” A hospital official said 18 children have died in past three days at the facility which has a 100-bed neo natal are facility. The average number of deaths of newborns in the Ahmedabad civil hospital daily is around five to six, the release added.