Petitioner alleged that many infants died due to lack of proper treatment, basic infrastructure
Madras high court has directed the government to file a detailed reply on a petition which sought to fill up vacancies in government hospitals
Chennai: The Madras high court has directed the government to file a detailed reply on a petition which sought to fill up vacancies in government hospitals. District secretary of People Rights Protection Centre, Dharmapuri, R. Janakiraman, filed the PIL in the wake of several neonatal deaths in government hospitals in several districts. In the petition, Janakiraman submitted that due to underweight, 11 infants died in Dharmapuri government medical college hospital in November 2014. The incident sent shockwaves among the public.
He alleged that many infants died due to lack of proper treatment and lack of basic infrastructure in the hospital. The nurses and other staff had failed to detect underweight foetused at the appropriate time with the women losing their infants. A fact-finding team consisting of advocates and rights activists visited the places and contacted the women.
An affected woman, K. Jayagandhi, 25, of Gopinathampatti village, Morappur, in Dharmapuri district, informed the team that scanning and other tests were conducted at the village health centre. However, the doctors had not detected tny problem or provided suitable treatment.
The government had informed the people that the mothers were too young to deliver a baby and that the gap between two pregnancies was too short. Hence, the government claimed that they delivered underweight babies. Denying this, Janakiraman said the fact-finding team identified that these were not the reasons for death of the infants. The team identified that seven among the 11 infants, weighing 1.2 kg to 1.75 kg, were delivered between 28 and 34 weeks of pregnancy. Under normal circumstances, a woman delivers babies after 37 weeks of pregnancy.
More than 60 infants were admitted to the government medical college hospital in Dharmapuri when the incident took place. Only one doctor and two nurses were reportedly working in the hospital, as against the total strength of nine doctors.
Similarly, neonatal deaths were reported in Villupuram, Salem, Vellore and Kilpauk government hospitals. They were not equipped with basic infrastructure, including incubator.
He sought a direction to fill up vacancies, including gynaecologists, paediatricians, other doctors, nurses and paramedical staff in all the government hospitals in the state including the government medical college hospital in Dharmapuri.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, before which the matter came up for hearing, said the government should file its reply stating the vacancies of doctors, nurses and other staff in government hospitals; how long these posts remained vacant and any steps taken to fill up the vacancies.
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