However, the current crisis begs the question -- was this fiasco really a lone untoward incident or does the problem exist somewhere in the very administrative structure of the JK Lon Hospital?
Matters continue to grow worse for the JK Lon Hospital in Rajasthan's Kota, where more than 110 infants have died the past month due to poor medical supervision. In what comes as yet another alarming update, it has now been reported that water continues to drip from the ceiling of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) ward at the hospital, which puts the lives of the rest of the children there, further in danger. To combat the dripping water issue, however, the hospital administration has asked its staff to spread clothes on the floor to soak up the water and prevent it from spreading further.
More than 110 kids have died in Kota's JK hospital in the last 35 days due to hypothermia, a medical emergency that occurs when the body temperature falls below 95 degrees F (35 degrees C). The normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees F (37 degrees C). Several politicos and prominent industry leaders have visited the medical facility and expressed their condolences over the unfortunate incident. However, the current crisis begs the question -- was this fiasco really a lone untoward incident or does the problem exist somewhere in the very administrative structure of the JK Lon Hospital, because to tackle it would need identifying the problem where it exists.
According to the news agency IANS, one of the reasons for the poor medical supervision in the JK Lon Hospital that resulted in the infants' deaths is a tussle between former hospital superintendent HL Meena and Head of Department (HoD) paediatrician Amritlal Bairwa. Several hospital employees told the news agency that while Bairwa behaved like a guest of honour and visited the hospital only once in a while, Meena was no better and overlooked the poor condition of some of the hospital's life-saving equipment. In fact, according to a hospital official, there were many such pieces of equipment that would probably just need a cloth costing Rs 2 to start functioning; however, the concerned HoD remained busy with his 'self-seeking goals', and hence there was no one to look into the issue.
Thus, what became of the infants? According to reports by the news agency, the responsibility to take care of critical patients, including newborn infants, would often lie with medical trainees instead of senior doctors! What made matters worse was that even these trainees did not care enough and spent most of their time talking on phones. When the parents of some of the children in the ward approached the medical personnel for an update, even they would, quite ridiculously, be asked to check if the drip and oxygen were working fine.
On account of a number of serious complaints against Meena and Bairwa, they were fired at a moment's notice, while an investigation is still on to identify further responsible for the incident. However, who will really answer for this untoward accident? And has the issue been really tackled, to the point that it can be made certain that there will not be any disaster to this measure in the future? Only time shall respond.
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 "Kota infant death toll hits 113, matters worsen for JK Lon hospital rattled by infighting")
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