Forty-six newborns died in three months at Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni District Hospital, prompting complaints from families about treatment and questions from a local BJP MLA over the absence of doctors.
Between July 1 and September 30, the hospital’s Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) admitted 592 babies, of whom 46 died. The unit recorded 80 deaths over the six months from April 1 to September 30.
Civil Surgeon Dr Vinod Kumar Navkar attributed the deaths to premature births, low birth weight and the critical condition of babies referred from across the district.
He also flagged a lack of support from the attached medical college’s paediatrics department.
FAMILIES QUESTION TREATMENT
Manish Warkade, a resident of Dungariya village in Barghat block, alleged that his wife did not receive timely attention after being admitted on July 12 or 13.
“We admitted my wife to the hospital, but nobody paid attention. Two days passed. They gave her an injection but did not explain anything,” he said.
Warkade said his wife continued to leak fluid and a nurse told her to press her abdomen. Doctors initially attempted a normal delivery before performing an operation, he alleged.
She gave birth to their first child on July 15. The baby, who weighed around three kilograms, was admitted to the SNCU with breathing difficulties and an abnormal heartbeat. He died a few hours later.
“The doctors told us that the baby had not cried, so it would be difficult for him to survive,” Warkade said.
Sanjay Uikey, a resident of Jawarkathi in Barghat, lost his first child six days after a premature delivery on September 7. The baby was born in the seventh month of pregnancy and weighed 1.6 kilograms.
Uikey said his wife was initially treated for low amniotic fluid. When she later began bleeding, she was taken to Barghat and referred to Seoni, where she delivered shortly after admission.
“The doctor said the baby’s heartbeat was slow and that he would need to be put on a machine,” he said.
After several days in the SNCU, doctors said the baby needed to be shifted to another machine. He died a few hours later, Uikey said.
HOSPITAL CITES CRITICAL CONDITION OF NEWBORNS
Local BJP MLA Dinesh Rai visited the hospital after reports of the deaths emerged. He inspected the SNCU and questioned the absence of doctors.
Rai said he would raise the matter with the district collector and the Chief Minister.
Navkar said the SNCU treats critically ill newborns referred from remote rural areas. Many are born prematurely, while some have suffered oxygen deprivation, he said.
“Over the past six months, we treated 1,188 babies, of whom 642 weighed less than normal. We could not save 60 of those babies,” he said.
Navkar put the unit’s mortality rate at 7.5 per cent and said it was lower than that of other districts in the Jabalpur division.
He said the hospital had sought support from the attached medical college’s paediatrics department, but a duty roster for its doctors had not been prepared. “If those doctors are assigned duties here, we can do better,” Navkar said.
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