Guj finally admits to baby deaths
After initially denying any infant fatality in the government run civil hospital in Ahmedabad, the Gujarat government has admitted to nine deaths and appointed a three member panel headed by a lowly deputy director to look into the matter.
Unofficially, hospital sources put the figure at 18 deaths over the last four days. The panel is expected to submit its report within a day, it was stated.
State chief minister Vijay Rupani described it as a sad incident and pointed out that a panel has already been set up to go into the entire issue. ''We shall act no sooner the report is received though on the face of it there does not seem to be any lack of availability of medicines or medical facilities,” he told media persons on Sunday.
However, it is the sequence of events at the civil hospital -- considered to be one of the biggest hospitals in Asia -that has roused suspicions of a government cover-up.
Enquiries revealed that of the nine infants who died, four were born in the hospital itself, while five had been brought from different parts of the state.
‘‘The five brought to the hospital from outside suffered from ‘‘extremely low birth weight” complications. Some suffered from life threatening diseases, and were in a critical condition, a press release of the government stated.
As news of the infant fatalities began filtering out of the hospital, the initial reaction of the hospital management and the government was to clam up. The hospital management flatly denied any such incident and even went to the extent of terming it a rumour. However, as the persistent media clamoured for details with a regular flow of information from inside the hospital reaching them, a panic stricken officialdom and ministry went into hectic parleys before the process of admitting the infant deaths began. Even the health minister Shankar Chaudhary initially said that he had inquired from the hospital authorities but they denied any such happening and termed it a rumour. However in anticipation of a public clamour the police presence within the premises was beefed up. According to reports, 18 children have died in the past four days at the hospital which has a 100-bed neo-natal facility. The press release sought to make light of the deaths saying that an average of five to six new born deaths take place at the civil hospital on a daily basis.
The issue is bound to acquire a velocity of its own with Gujarat caught up in election fever and the opposition looking for issues, after the ruling party sought to link one of their leaders to a suspected terror arrest. The issue will come in handy to pay back the government on an emotive issue.