Dharmapuri: The staggering child mortality rate at the Dharmapuri GH an average of 40 newborns die in the hospital every month came to light last Friday when five kids died within six hours.
On Sunday, one more kid died followed by four more deaths from midnight to noon on Monday. For the 21 year old mother, Kanniammal, it was a midnightshock as nurses informed her that her newborn was no more. The three-day-old baby which was born at a private clinic on 14 November, with a healthy weight of 2.7 kg, developed complications as he had consumed the amniotic fluid stained by stools or meconium and suffered from acute breathlessness.
A trail of death followed as a two-day-old girl born pre-term with a low birth weight of 1.6 kg at the Dharmpuri GH died at 2.50 a.m.
As the mother 26-year-old Ambika wailed inside the ward, her husband Periyasamy sobbed, “ My child was born in the Dharmapuri GH. He seemed alright when he was born. Now, they say the child is dead. I can’t believe it.”
Five hours later, at 9.10 am, another girl baby born pre-term and weighing about 1.9 kg died.
The child’s mother, Jayakala, who is just 20 years old, had delivered the baby at Kottampatti primary health centre on November 12 and the child was brought to the Dharmapuri GH in a critical condition on 16 November, doctors said.
At 12 noon, another girl child which was born at Hosur Government Hospital on October 22 and admitted to the Dharmapuri GH on November 4 breathed her last.
“The child was suffering from epilepsy. We gave the best treatment, but unfortunately could not save the child, the dean in-charge said.
