Kolkata: West Bengal government on Monday sought reports from the state-run B C Roy Memorial Children's
Hospital where seven crib deaths took place in last two days,
officials said.
The health department asked the authorities of eastern
region's largest paediatric referral hospital to send reports
about crib deaths.
Hospital sources said that two infants died in last 24
hours and attributed the cause to malnutrition, being
critically ill and underweight.
The fresh two deaths took the infant death toll to
seven in last two days, with ages ranging from 10 days to one
month, the sources said.
The sources, however, dismissed allegations that the
patients' relatives were 'roughed up and misbehaved'.
Infant deaths in the city hospital came on the trail
of similar reports from different state-run hospitals in Malda
and Berhampore in last couple of days.
As angry family members staged demonstration and
blocked roads yesterday alleging medical negligence, police
rushed to pacify the agitators.
Hospital Superintendent Dilip Pal pleaded that most of
the babies were brought to the hospital in a critical
condition. He further claimed that there was "nothing
abnormal" in such crib deaths which "is within the
normal range."
The Superintendent said there was a heavy load of
patients in the hospital and a large number of children are
being brought daily, "many of whom already brought in critical
condition to the hospital".
In October last year, 36 babies had died at several
district hospitals and the referral B C Roy Children's
Hospital.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 30, 2012, 21:48