After the action of the minister, people agitated demanding action. (Representative)
Bhubaneswar:
Odisha Health and Family Welfare Minister NK Das on Sunday sought a report from the Keonjhar district administration on the death of 13 children within 18 days due to alleged negligence in the pediatric ward of a government hospital in the mineral-rich district.
Following the minister’s action, a large number of people agitated at the Keonjhar district headquarters hospital demanding action against the doctors, whose alleged negligence led to the death of the children.
“It is an unfortunate incident. We should find out the cause of death of the children. I have asked the officials of Keonjhar district to ascertain the cause of the incident,” the minister told reporters.
The families of the children allege that the doctors did not visit the hospital’s Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) on Saturday night, where serious patients were being treated. This resulted in the death of children.
Additional District Medical Officer, Keonjhar, Kishor Prusty admitted that three children had died in the last 24 hours.
“Three children have died in the last 24 hours. In the last 18 days, 13 children have died. A total of 122 children have been admitted to the hospital till September 18,” Prusty told reporters in Keonjhar.
As people started attacking public properties in the hospital, senior police and health officials rushed to pacify the agitators.
Mithun Nayak alleged, “My younger brother’s son was admitted to the hospital. He died due to the negligence of the doctors and nurses.”
He said the child was admitted to the ICU and died due to non-availability of oxygen on time. Always have doctors and nurses available in case of emergency. But, they were not present on Saturday night, Mr Nayak alleged.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)