Two newborns die in Rajasthan hospital as warmer gets overheated

JAIPUR: Two infants died after a radiant warmer overheated at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the state-run Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara.
A 21-day-old girl died Wednesday and a 10-day-old boy died on Thursday, both having suffered burns from the overheating. Forty infants were in the NICU at the time. The deaths sparked protests by the families and allegations of negligence. Police rushed in to control the situation.
Hospital superintendent Dr Arun Gaur claimed “accidental” tampering by the mother of one of the deceased babies may have caused the warmer to malfunction.
“They were kept in the same radiant warmer which got overheated. The mother of one of the infants had come at night to feed her baby. Prima facie, it seems that she had accidentally disturbed the sensor of the warmer which helps regulate the temperature. An inquiry has been ordered. The post-mortem of the girl has been conducted to find out the actual cause of death. The nursing staff have been removed,” Gaur told TOI. The families of the baby boy from Bhilwara’s Hurda and the girl from Chittorgarh have demanded compensation.
This isn’t Rajasthan’s first such tragedy. In Beawar, two infants died when their radiant warmer in a government hospital caught fire this April, prompting directives to replace all three-year-old devices with new ones. A similar incident was reported from Alwar in December 2019.
The hospital superintendent claimed ‘accidental’ tampering by a mother may have caused the warmer to malfunction.