Niloufer claims another life

Niloufer Hospital has become notorious for many reasons, none of which augurwell for the noble profession- from baby lifters to negligence of new borns. Today, as another life is lost at the hospital, parents and hospital authorities play the blame game.

TSS Siddharth

Niloufer Hospital has now become synonymous with the term high infant mortality rate. And the superintendent, Ranganathan is unabashed in confirming that they lose almost eight infants a day. Though the hospital cites various causes for death, it is evident that there is gross negligence on their part. In a recent incident a three day old infant died in the hospital. And in this particular case the father of the child and the hospital officials had two different stories to tell.

At a press meet, organised by the AP Balala Hakkula Sangham the father of the deceased child along with members of the society put forth their grievances about the hospital. Bhikshapathi, the father of the deceased said that his wife of had given birth to a baby boy on July 27 in a Government Maternity Hospital at PetlaBurju. Due to complications in the child’s health the medical officials of the maternity hospital recommended that the baby must be shifted to Niloufer. It was the only government hospital with access to incubators. It was done as adviced and the baby was shifted to an incubator in Niloufer. Two days later on August 31 the child was pronounced dead by the hospital officials.

Bhikshapathi said, “In Niloufer he was sharing the incubator with two other infants. Usually for an incubator, a glass walled lining to protect the child from coming in contact with the metal surface is mandatory. But there was nothing of that sort in the incubators at Niloufer. On August 31 there was a short circuit in the incubator and my son died of an electrocution.”

According to the Bhikshapathi, it was the gross negligence on the hospital’s part which led to his son’s demise. He also claimed that when he approached the Superintendent of the hospital, to a way out of the peril, he came, pulled the plug out of the socket and left matters at that.

The family is now demanding that the hospital pay them a compensation of Rs 3 Lakh for the death of their child, they are also demanding strict action to be taken against the people responsible for this. Bhikshapathi has already filed an FIR with the Nampally Police Station. The police have shifted the infant’s body to Osmania Hospital where it has already undergone an autopsy, but the report has still not been revealed.

The father of the deceased alleged that all the officials of the hospital were just brushing their responsibility off . With all this on one side, the hospital officials have a completely different story to narrate. According to a spokesperson from the hospital the child was already in very bad health when he was brought to the hospital. They added, “The child was extremely underweight and unhealthy, the mother was suffering from Eclampsia. Usually in such cases the chances for the survival of the baby is very less. Apart from that the child also had severe respiratory issues.

That could have been the cause of death. And as for the electrocution part, there were three infants on the same incubator how come one died but nothing happened to the other two”. They further added that as soon as the incident was reported an in-house electrician checked the incubator and found no faults. Later, a police check was also carried out. “Usually in cases of electrocution there are evident signs of injury like burns, but on the child’s body nothing of that sort was found”.

In Niloufer the baby was sharing the incubator with two other infants. Usually for an incubator, a glass walled lining to protect the child from coming in contact with the metal surface is mandatory. But there was nothing of that sort in the incubators at Niloufer