Lok Sabha Speaker, Union Health Minister write to Rajasthan CM over Kota hospital deaths

Lok Sabha Speaker & MP from Kota, Om Birla, and Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot over the death of infants in JK Lone Maternal and Child Hospital in Kota. The death toll reached to hundred since December last year at JK Lone Maternal and Child Hospital with eight more deaths reported in the last two days.

Three children died on December 30 and five more on December 31, Dr. Amrit Lal Bairwa, head of the Pediatrics Department at the hospital stated.

Bairwa cites "low-birth-weight and hypothermia" as the reasons behind the untimely deaths of these infants.       

"In view of the increasing number of untimely deaths of infants in JK Lone Maternal and Child Hospital in Kota, I am sending a reminder letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, urging to strengthen medical facilities," Om Birla tweeted. 

राजस्थान के मुख्यमंत्री अशोक गहलोत को पुनः स्मरण पत्र भेजकर संसदीय क्षेत्र कोटा के जेके लोन मातृ एवं शिशु चिकित्सालय में शिशुओं की असमय मृत्यु की प्रतिदिन बढती संख्या को देखते हुए संवेदनशीलता के साथ चिकित्सा सुविधाओं के मजबूत बनाने के लिये आग्रह किया।@ashokgehlot51 @RajCMO

— Om Birla (@ombirlakota) January 2, 2020

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said,'' I have written a letter to Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot requesting him to look into the matter. We have assured all kind of support from our side. The number of deaths is definitely higher this time compared to last few years,'' 

Meanwhile, Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi also demanded a detailed report from the Gehlot government over the issue.

The Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sought Central Government's suggestion to improve the medical facilities in the state and urged the party leaders to refrain from politicising the issue.

The incident in question came to light following an incident that took place on December 23-24 at the JK Lone Hospital in Kota, Rajasthan, where the infants were admitted in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Of the ten infants who saw the most unfortunate and untimely death, four were aged 1-4 days, three were aged between one-and-a-half to five months, and the rest two infants were aged nine months and one year, respectively. Six of them died on December 23, while the rest four passed away on December 24. 

Over the year, 940 children deaths have been reported at the hospital.