Toll climbs to 91 at Kota hospital, BJP to send central panel

Kota (Rajasthan): Fourteen more infants have died at the JK Lon hospital here in the last five days, taking the number of deaths to 91 this month at the facility, officials said on Monday.
“The 14 infants, including six newborns, died in the period between December 25 and December 29 in NICU and PICU units of the hospital,” the newly appointed superintendent of the hospital, Suresh Dulara, said.
Earlier, 77 infants had died till December 24 including 10 within 48 hours on December 23-24, he said.
On the cause of deaths, Amrit Lal Bairwa, Head of Department of Pediatrics, said that they are analysing the reasons behind the 77 deaths till December 25.
Out of the 14 infants who died later, four succumbed to severe pneumonia, one to Meningoencephalitis, four to Congenital pneumonia, three to pneumatic septicemia, and one to respiratory disorder, he said.
Rajasthan Medical Education Secretary Vaibhav Galariya said a three-member team comprising Dr Amarjeet Mehta, Dr Rambabu Sharma and Dr Sunil Bhatnagar that is probing the infant deaths will submit its report in two days following which action will be taken.
The BJP, which has targeted the Congress government in Rajasthan over the child deaths, said it has formed a committee comprising four MPs to look into the matter.
The panel comprising Lok Sabha MPs Jaskaur Meena, Locket Chatterjee and Bharati Pawar, and Rajya Sabha MP Kanta Kardam has been asked to submit its report within three days to the party’s working president J P Nadda.
Meanwhile, state BJP leaders and former health ministers Rajendra Singh Rathore and Kalicharan Saraf visited the hospital on Monday and interacted with the staff. (PTI)