In the first two days of the new year, two more children died in Kota’s JK Lon Hospital taking the death toll to 102 on Thursday, hospital officials confirmed.
Hospital Superintendent Suresh Dulara confirmed the numbers to news agency IANS.
As per the reports, in the last three days ten kids have died out of which two died on January 1 and 2, while eight died on December 30 and 31.
The two kids who died in 2020 were in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in critical condition.
“As compared to other government hospitals, this number stands quite low. Also, one death a day means that death rate is falling down in this hospital, which witnessed 91 deaths in December last year,” Dulara was quoted saying by IANS.
JK Lone Hospital which was in news in last few days of 2019 because of deaths on infants due to lapses in the incubation unit for neonatal infants has registered 963 deaths in 2019.
As per the news agency PTI, the death toll has reached to 100 in December.
A team led by the state’s Medical Education Secretary, Vaibhav Galeria, was formed after the furore over the deaths of newborn kids in the hospital.
On December 29, Lok Sabha speaker and Member of Parliament from Kota, Om Birla, visited the hospital to meet the parents of the kids who died in the hospital. He also urged the Rajashtan government to act sensitively on the death of infants at a government hospital in Kota district.
On Thursday he took to Twitter and said that he has again written a letter to the Rajashtan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot regarding the matter and urged him to strengthen the medical facilities in the state.
Earlier, chief minister Ashok Gehlot had also tweeted about the incident and said the government is sensitive to the recent deaths of infants in the Kota, and the matter should not be politicised.
He also claimed that the death rate of infants in this hospital in Kota in on decline.
“Central team is welcome to visit and offer their suggestions for improvement of medical facilities in the state,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the eight deaths on December 30 and 31, JK Lon Hospital pediatrician department’s chief Amritlal Bairwa said that the deaths were not due to any fault on doctors’ part.
“The weight of the newborns was too less and also their relatives did not follow proper instructions during delivery due to which the pregnant mothers came to the hospital in serious condition,” Bairwa said.
Union Home Minister Harsh Vardhan on the issue said, “I have written a letter to Rajasthan CM requesting him to look into the matter. We assured all kind of support from our side.”
“The number of deaths is definitely higher this time as compared to the last few years,” he said.
Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi had also summoned the party’s state in-charge Avinash Pandey on the issue and sought an explanation from Ashok Gehlot.
After the meeting, Pandey told media that Sonia Gandhi is very serious about the issue and sought a detailed report on it.