The Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has ordered a magisterial probe into two cases of deaths of babies, one unborn and two other new born, due to the alleged neglect on the part of the staff of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GHCH). The Commission has asked district magistrates of Kamrup to submit their reports to it within a period of thirty days. In one case, the mother reportedly developed complications and severe labour pain which led to her operative delivery the next day resulting in the death of the delivered baby. The second case was the death of twin babies delivered. Soon after the delivery the babies reportedly fell ill and their bodies gradually turned black. The attending doctor and the nurse allegedly did not pay heed to the complication and the twins died.
Child care is one of the major items on the Centre’s agenda with a ministry attending to it. It is also a major concern of the Assam government. The death of children is nothing new in the state. A large number of them died some years ago for taking pulse polio drops under the supervision of the UNICEF. The Centre has increased the outlay for health care in this year’s Budget. But this has not had much effect, especially in a remote state like Assam. Death of children in hospitals is due to the negligence of doctors and of untrained nurses. No proper training institute has been set up for training nurses and paramedics. Doctors are interested more in private practice and so complicated operations are performed in a hurry. It is good that the Human Rights Commission is active in Assam and even the death of three children has not gone unnoticed.