As 110 infants die in Kota, JK Lon Hospital gets new equipment

Superintendent, Suresh Chand Dulara said that new equipment has been made available, broken windows have been repaired and the renovation process is underway. He added that following the government order, Dr Jagjeet will be the head of the department. There are now five paediatricians appointed in JK Lon Hospital.

Kota: New equipment has been made available to JK Lon government hospital in Kota were more than 100 infants died in over a month. The hospital`s superintendent, Suresh Chand Dulara, said that the broken windows have been fixed. "New equipment has been made available. Broken windows have been repaired and the renovation process is underway. Following the government order, Dr Jagjeet will be the head of the department. There are now five paediatricians appointed in JK Lon Hospital," Dulara told reporters here.

"60 new beds have been ordered. The service engineer will visit the hospital every three months for warmers` maintenance. We brought new equipment with 28 nebulisers and five pulse oximeter," he said. Dulara cited hypothermia and birth asphyxia as the reason behind more numbers of deaths of the infants at the hospital. The death toll of infants has risen to 110 at the JK Lon Hospital, officials said earlier in the day.

On Saturday, a central team of experts visited the hospital to take stock of the incident. A three-member state government committee of doctors, who was sent to investigate the matter on December 23 and 24, found that the hospital is short of beds and it requires improvement.

However, the committee gave a clean chit to the doctors for any lapses over the recent death of infants admitted there. Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report within four weeks about the steps being taken to address the issue of child deaths in the hospital.

The commission also asked the Chief Secretary to ensure that such deaths of the children do not take place in the future due to lack of infrastructure and health facilities at the hospitals.