CMS report contradicts govt version DOCTORS GO ON LEAVE OVER FIRs AGAINST THREE COLLEAGUES
FARRUKHABAD DEATHS RML Hospital’s top medical officer says in report that 14 kids died due to lack of oxygen
Lack of oxygen killed at least 14 of the 49 children who died at a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district last month , an official report of the institution’s top medical officer has said, contradicting the stand taken by the state administration.
The report of the chief medical superintendent of the women’s section of the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital noted that 14 out of 30 children who died between July 22 and August 20 at the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) perished only of peri-natal asphyxia – a condition where a child cannot breathe properly after birth and has to be immediately put on oxygen supply.
The report says another four of the 30 died because of peri-natal asphyxia along with other complications. Twelve others died of other reasons ranging from septicemia to premature birth. Hindustan Times has a copy of the report accessed through hospital sources.
Other than these 30 kids, 19 more babies died at birth in the hospital during the same period.
Officials said the this document became the basis for a report by the city magistrate, which indicted the hospital authorities for gross negligence. Within hours, the state government dismissed the magistrate’s report as “superficial” and insisted that the deaths weren’t due to an oxygen supply crisis.
This came at a time when chief minister Yogi Adityanath is facing a storm of criticism over a string of similar deaths at a government hospital in Gorakhpur roughly a month ago. The government has denied charges of negligence in both cases despite mounting attacks on the state’s poor health infrastructure.
Local officials point out to a crucial difference between the two cases. In the case of the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur, it was alleged that a snag in oxygen supply caused the deaths. But in Farrukhabad, the magistrate and parents blame the staff for being careless and not providing oxygen, which was available, to the children.
“This underlines gross negligence on the part of the hospital authorities and staff members,” said a district official who didn’t want to be named. “The government wrongly presumed the local report puts the blame on shortage of oxygen as was the case in Gorakhpur.”
The SNCU is functioning with just one doctor on staff, as against a requirement of four.
Health department officials, however, continued to set aside charges that doctors didn’t give adequate oxygen to children. “There can be many reasons behind peri-natal asphyxia. A child can get asphyxiated in mother’s womb,” said a doctor, not willing to be identified.
“It would have been prudent for the inquiry team to consult the experts rather than hurriedly reaching a conclusion and blaming the hospital,” he said.
Upset over charges brought against senior doctors of a state-run hospital in UP’s Farrukhabad, where 49 infants died within a month, all government doctors in the district went on mass leave from Tuesday.
An FIR was lodged on Monday against the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief medical superintendent (CMS) and a senior child specialist of the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) district hospital following chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s directive.
Members of the medical associations in the state said they have decided to be on leave until September 7, but added that emergency and post-mortem services would not be disturbed.
The Provincial Medical Services Association has urged the government to form a technical team to evaluate the deaths.
A non-technical team is probing the deaths of 30 infants in the neonatal critical care unit and 19 in the delivery room between July 20 and August 21, due to poor treatment, lack of attention and paucity of oxygen.
Accusing the state government of acting in haste and under pressure, the doctors have warned that the victimisation of innocent doctors must be stopped immediately.
In a memorandum sent to principal secretary (health) Prashant Trivedi, the PMS doctors have also demanded the immediate withdrawal of FIRs.
Association president Ashok Yadav said only critically ill patients are admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit and doctors work hard to save their lives with “limited resources and man power”.