Diphtheria deaths rock NDMC, Opp. slams mayor

■ Not a single dose of serum since Dec. 2017 ◗ The committee said that the medical superintendent did not make adequate arrangements to ensure that patients were administered with antidiphtheria serum

The BJP- led NDMC House saw a huge uproar on Wednesday as Opposition members cornered the ruling party over the issue of deaths of 30 children in September at a civic hospital in North Delhi and sought resignation of the mayor and action against the guilty.

Both AAP and Congress members sought discussion over the issue from Mayor Adesh Gupta even as they blamed some members of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation ( NDMC) of “making a mockery” of the tragic deaths by attributing it to fate.

The argument from both sides soon turned into heated exchanges and the Aam Aadmi Party ( AAP) members, some holding placards, raised slogans and later trooped to the well of the House, chanting “mayor must resign”. Leader of Opposition and AAP’s Wazirpur councillor Vikas Goel and senior Congress leader Mukesh Goel led the attack against the mayor and alleged that health services had “deteriorated” in the NDMC hospitals, accusing the corporation of being “ill- equipped and ill- staffed” to handle such a situation.

The inquiry committee formed to probe the lapses that led to the deaths of 28 children due to diphtheria at Maharishi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital has found that there was not a single dose of ADS ( serum) at the hospital since December last year till September 22 this year. This is when already 14 deaths had been reported from there.

The committee, comprising doctors from hospitals like Kasturba Gandhi, RML, Maulana Azad Medical College ( MAMC), and other senior officials, also said that the medical superintendent did not make adequate arrangements to ensure that patients were administered with anti- diphtheria serum ( ADS). It added that Mr Gupta failed to “timely communicate the factual position of non- availability of ADS to Commissioner, North DMC through immediate higher authority i. e. Director, Hospital Administration.”

The stock of 1,400 vials that the hospital had from Central Research Institute was completely exhausted by December 2, 2017.