Hospital report doesn’t blame Tanwar for newborn’s death

Says baby showed improvement after he was brought to Sonepat hospital, indicating jam caused by Tanwar’s cycle yatra cannot be blamed for his death

› Our investigation could not confirm the allegations in various reports that the traffic jam due the rally was the reason behind the newborn’s death.

DR JS PUNIA, Sonepat civil surgeon

ROHTAK: The investigation report of Sonepat civil hospital in the death of a newborn allegedly after being stuck in a traffic jam caused by Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar’s cycle yatra, states that the baby had shown improvement in his health after he was brought to the civil hospital, thus indicating that the jam could not be blamed for his death alone.

The report was compiled after recording statements from on-duty doctors, pediatricians, ambulance driver, fleet manager etc.

The report states that the premature baby was born in a private hospital at 2:15 am on Tuesday. After around nine hours, the private hospital called for an ambulance to shift the newborn to civil hospital.

“A call for ambulance was made at 11:22 am, and within 10 minutes the ambulance reached the private hospital to pick the baby. It usually takes 15 minutes to reach civil hospital from the private hospital, but that day, due to the rally, around 20-30 minutes delay occurred and the child reached here at 12:15 pm,” the report states.

“Immediately treatment was started. When the child reached here, he was cyanosed (going blue due to poor blood flow) and his heart rate was on the lower

side. Our senior pediatricians started the treatment and in 30 minutes of treatment, the newborn’s health improved,” the report states.

Elaborating this part of the report, Dr JS Punia, the civil surgeon, told HT that after treatment the infant’s heart rate had shown improvement and blood circulation had also improved.

“After this improvement, our specialists here decided to refer him to the PGIMS in Rohtak. He was shifted in an ambulance which also had a trained nurse in it. He was admitted at PGIMS around 2:45 pm. We later got to know on phone that he passed away between 4 and 4:30 pm,” the report concludes.

Dr Punia, on being inquired further, said his investigation could not confirm the allegations in various reports that the traffic jam due the rally was the reason behind the newborn’s death.