Hyderabad: A couple from Gurram-guda, a village in Ranga Reddy district, lost their new-born, allegedly due to the negligence of doctors at the Koti maternity hospital where the mother, P Radha, was admitted. She delivered a baby boy at 2.30 am on Friday morning. The infant died in the early hours of Saturday.
The infant’s father, Sambasiva Rao, alleges that the baby was administered a polio injection by the hospital authorities. “The injection should not have been given to the boy as he was not even three days old. After the nurse gave him the injection, he started getting fever and was sent to Niloufer hospital in the night. The nurses at Koti hospital didn’t treat him properly.”
The infant’s grandmother, P Laxmi, made a shocking revelation: “The nurses who helped in the delivery started demanding money as soon as my daughter-in-law was admitted. They also told me to give them '1,000 for cleaning the room and doing work related to post-delivery. I told them I don’t have enough money because we are poor people. But they were adamant about it. However, the delivery happened after the intervention of the senior doctors, but we have lost our newborn and it’s a really sad moment for us.”
The superintendent of Koti hospital was not available for comment. The deputy superintendent, Dr Dayal Singh, who was on duty, said, “The infant’s body temperature rose and he was admitted to SNCU (Sick Nursery Care Unit) at 9.30 pm on May 5. His fever was not controlled and in the meanwhile the boy got fits. So the hospital authorities immediately shifted him to Niloufer hospital at 10.30 pm by ambulance.”
“After reaching Niloufer hospital, he was recovering, according to that hospital’s reports, but he stopped breathing at 3.30 am. The allegations being made by the family are not true. The main reason for his death is being termed as lack of strong immunity and underweight,” he said.
The infant’s death triggered a protest in front of Koti maternity hospital by the BJP Mahila Morcha. The women demanded an immediate resignation of the health minister K Laxma Reddy and asked Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to do justice to the family by giving them compensation.
K. Laxman, BJP MLA from Musheerabad, joined the protest and pushed for the immediate revival of government hospitals. He said, “There are a lot of issues in government hospitals and the poor are not being treated properly. The state government is giving importance to the corporate hospitals and the government hospitals are being completely neglected. The government should immediately announce '10 lakh ex-gratia to the infant’s family.”
The health minister, meanwhile, visited the Directorate of Medical Education office to sanction new bikes for ANM nurses, and was met by protests from the Mahila Morcha. The protesters were arrested by the police.
