The death of 18 babies in the past two days at B.C. Roy Hospital for Children has triggered intense public anger here, with irate relatives of the dead babies ransacking the hospital and putting up a roadblock in the nearby
locality of Phoolbagan, disrupting traffic for almost an hour. Hospital principal Mrinal Kanti Chatterjee confirmed that 18 deaths had taken place, but claimed most of the babies had been brought to the hospital when it was too late for medical help.
The state government insisted only 12 babies had died. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee confirmed only 12 deaths till Wednesday night. “I don’t have the reports, but till now 12 children have died,” she said. Taking serious note of the matter, she has ordered a full investigation. “I have asked for a report within 24 hours. If anyone is found guilty of negligence, he will not be spared. I will take strong action against everyone from top to bottom — against whoever is found responsible,” an upset Ms Banerjee said at Writers’ Buildings, the state secretariat. She added that the former Left Front government had left the state’s healthcare system in a shambles in the past 34 years, and went on to accuse the CPI(M) of trying to play politics over the babies’ deaths.
The state-run paediatric hospital in north Kolkata in the eye of the storm has had a history of trouble — it has seen a large number of crib deaths, for which it earned the wrath of disgruntled parents.
A police team was rushed to the hospital on Thursday after news of the infant deaths broke, and had a tough time in bringing the situation under control. Local councillor Swapan Samaddar and local MLA Paresh Pal tried hard to placate the angry relatives of babies. “This is not the first time that so many babies have died in this hospital. It is true this is the only government hospital of its kind and there is too much pressure on it because babies from across the state are brought here for treatment. But the inhuman behaviour of doctors and nurses is unpardonable,” Mr Pal said. He alleged that a nurse had slapped a woman because she had burst into tears after her child had died.
Hospital superintendent Dilip Kumar Pal, however, refused to acknowledge that the deaths were due to any kind of medical negligence. He claimed most of the babies were either premature or were suffering from septicaemia or low-birth weight problems.
Dr Pal argued that 70 to 80 per cent of the 250-odd babies regularly treated at Dr B.C. Roy Hospital were newborns brought in a critical condition. “Therefore, on an average, six to eight babies die daily. No doctor or nurse will neglect a baby,” he said. Dr Pal pointed out that when parents lost a child, it was natural for them to get upset.
Claiming that the hospital staff had to work under extremely trying circumstances, the superintendent expressed his desire to resign, and said he had ordered an internal inquiry. But not satisfied with this, the chief minister held a meeting with the state health secretary and set up a committee comprising two independent child specialists — Dr B.N. Roy and Dr Malay Dasgupta — from different government hospitals.
A visibly perturbed Ms Banerjee said she had wanted to visit the hospital on Thursday but decided against it as a large media contingent would invariably have followed her and this would cause inconvenience to the patients.