Newborn dies due to unavailability of ventilator in Delhi's Malviya Nagar, family takes nurse hostage for hours

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NEW DELHI: A premature newborn allegedly lost his life due to unavailability of a ventilator at a government hospital in Delhi's Malviya Nagar. After the death of the newborn, the child's relatives created an uproar at the hospital and accused the management of negligence. They also held a female nurse hostage. 

The incident took place at Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital at around 9 pm on Thursday night. The nurse was released after three hours once the police arrived at the spot. 

According to reports, the child's family members were not ready to release the nurse despite repeated efforts made by the hospital management. Meanwhile, the police were informed after which they reached the spot. When the CMO of the hospital called SHO Malviya Nagar, he disconnected the phone advising him to dial 100 for help.

A complaint has been registered on the matter at around Safdarjung Enclave police station. Police is investigating the matter. However, the case has not been registered yet.

"A child who was born with a weight of around 1 kg and needed ventilation. We transferred the patient to Safdarjung Hospital since we do not even have ventilators. In the midst of all this conversation, the child died. Dr Ashish and nurse Anuradha from our hospital went there. Dr Ashish was beaten up due to which he fled and the family took the nurse hostage," MS Madhav, the CMO of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital was quoted as saying by ANI.

He further said that it was due to the issue of availability of beds, the Safdarjung Hospital claimed that they did not have a ventilator bed. "When the staff of Safdarjung Hospital told the family of the child that you have to give consent that if something happens to the child, you will be responsible for it because we are going to shift the child to the general ward. They were not ready to give consent and in the meantime, the newborn collapsed," he added.