Family blames hospital staff for child’s death

The family members of a newborn that died in a government hospital due to negligence on the part of a nurse staged a protest at the community health centre seeking legal action against the doctors and staff on Sunday.

Meera Devi, a resident of Karerua village under Bari police station, was admitted in government hospital in Dholpur for delivery on February 22. After her delivery, which happened on the same day she was admitted, the newborn apparently slipped from nurse’s hands and fell into bucket of water.

Although the baby was immediately referred to a district hospital in a critical condition, he died during treatment on Sunday.

Later in the day, the family members raised slogans against the hospital staff and created ruckus at the CHC to demanding a legal action against the ‘careless’ staff. It was only after police reached the spot, the protesters calmed down.

The father of the newborn, Ravindra Sharma, said: “I rushed my wife to hospital for delivery because she was in labour. The hospital staff are responsible for my son’s death. They should be punished.”

Station House Officer of Bari, Ramesh Tamvar, said the Sharma has filed a complaint under section 174 of Indian Penal Code against the hospital staff. The body was handed over to family after postmortem by a medical board. We are investigating the matter.”

The hospital in-charge, Dr. Suresh Mangal, however, refuted allegations of negligence. “There was no negligence on part of the hospital staff and the baby died because his health deteriorated.”