Shaheen lives in a cramped, two-room tenement in the congested Khatakpura Izzat Khan lane in urban Farukkhabad. Her husband Dishad sells embroidery scraps for a living. They have three daughters, aged 15, 10 and 6.
In the dimly-lit room, Shaheen waits for Dilshad to return. Short on money, life is tough for the family. But Shaheen is also in trauma. A few weeks ago, her fourth child died a day after birth.
Shaheen alleges that her baby died due to neglect at the Ram Manohar Lohia district hospital. The nurses failed to provide the newborn with oxygen supply, she says.
“They didn’t put the oxygen tube...why else would she die? She was born fine,” Shaheen says. “One nurse was telling the other that she had left the oxygen tube disconnected. They didn’t let us enter the ward. When I told another parent about it, she suggested that I bribe the nurses,” says Shaheen.
The family further says that after the child expired, the hospital authorities chased them out in the middle of the night. The ‘free’ government ambulance that dropped them home charged them Rs300. “We had to borrow money to pay the sum,” says Shaheen.
The Farukkhabad hospital hit the headlines on Monday after the district administration, on investigating complaints from parents, concluded that 30 infants had died there in one month due to lack of sufficient oxygen supply. The hospital’s chief medical superintendent, the district’s chief medical officer, and other doctors were booked for causing death by negligence, and put under suspension.
However, according to the the city magistrate, Jainendra Kumar Jain, who probed the cases, this conclusion was reached only on the basis of telephonic conversations between the parents and the administration.
Technical probe
The Hindu spoke to other parents whose babies had died, and they all put the blame on neglect and corruption by the hospital administration. While a technical probe will eventually decide whether the deaths were due to lack of oxygen, the spate of infant deaths has once again put the spotlight on the dismal state of medical infrastructure in UP.
Though his name was not directly in the FIR, Dr. Kailash Chandra, the sole paediatrician in charge of the newborns in the hospital, refutes all charges. He says the deaths were all caused by birth-related illnesses and not by lack of external oxygen supply.
During the concerned period, July 21 to August 20, the hospital admitted 211 babies, of which 145 were born in other hospitals. Out of the 30 that died, 24 were from these 145, he points out.
Since March 2016, Dr Chandra has been the lone paediatrician in the newborns unit, though the unit should actually have four doctors.
The only assistance he receives is from eight nurses. The ward’s infrastructure is also limited. At any given time only 12 children can be supplied with oxygen. The hospital doesn’t have a ventilator or staff trained to operate one.
Low weight
According to Dr. Chandra, the parents’ allegations that the babies were not connected to oxygen tubes are untrue.
“The parents won’t tell you how low their babies weighed. Some were just 1 kg at birth. We do our best to save them. Which doctor would want to see a dead baby,” he said.
According to sources, the government is likely to give a clean chit to the accused doctors. A team from Lucknow visited the hospital and found no shortage of oxygen. The criminal action against the doctors could also be revoked.