Another baby dies due to lack of care in hospital

Due to lack of access to critical care facilities at a Delhi government hospital, a newborn boy died on Wednesday.

"Our baby was delivered at home by a midwife who then told us that he was having some breathing problems and told us to take him to the nearest hospital. So, we rushed the baby to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital (SGMH).

But, doctors, there at SGMH said, the hospital did not have the oxygen facilities needed for the child and referred us to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, where we then rushed, but in vain,"said Manoj, infant's father.

The SGMH authorities have denied the allegation made by Manoj. "The parents left the hospital on their own, without informing anyone. The baby was brought to the pediatric casualty department and he was initially attended to by junior and senior resident doctors.

A senior pediatrician was later attending to him, when another child developed a seizure, and so he had to go and attend to the other child, " SGMH Medical Superintendent P S Nayyer had been quoted as saying.

Nayyer said after the incident, an inquiry panel was set up and the panel submitted its report in the evening.

"We have seven oxygen supply units at the hospital and so the reason he was not put on a ventilator was because it was not recommended by doctors.It was not because we lacked it," he had added A few days before the baby's death, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain to come up with a concrete action plan within a week on providing life support system for critical patients in the city's government hospitals.