The death toll has sparked political turmoil, with opposition parties accusing the state government and hospital authorities of negligence.
Twelve infants died in a single day in a hospital in India’s Maharashtra state, sparking political turmoil with opposition politicians blaming negligence on the part of the local government and hospital authorities.
The infant died on Sunday, one of 24 deaths recorded that day at the Shankarao Chavan Government Hospital in Nanded district, about 600 kilometers (373 miles) from India’s financial capital Mumbai, hospital officials said. officials and local media made the announcement Tuesday.
“My brother’s one-day-old infant died in the hospital on Sunday, making him the fifth person to die. We saw four more babies die in front of our eyes,” she wrote as her family brought their baby to the hospital. said Yogesh Solanki, who carried it to
Solanki said the neonatal unit at the hospital where the infants are being treated was extremely crowded on Sundays, with four to five babies in one incubator that was normally designed to hold only one. It is said that it was in there.
Shankarao Chawan Hospital director Shamrao Wakode did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment on the allegations or the opposition’s alleged negligence, saying in a brief telephone call that he did not have time as government ministers were visiting the hospital. .
Wakode announced early Tuesday that 12 adult patients had died from a variety of illnesses, including diabetes, liver failure and kidney failure.
“There was no shortage of medicines or doctors. Proper care was provided to the patient, but the patient’s body did not respond to the treatment, which led to his death,” Wakode said in an Indian media report. He was reported to have said that.
The Maharashtra government announced on Tuesday that it had launched an investigation into the deaths of infants and other patients on Sunday.
“Twenty-four is a big number. Why were there so many deaths in one day? We will investigate whether it is due to lack of medicines, lack of personnel, or other reasons. ,” state minister Girish Mahajan told reporters.
Opposition politicians accused the Maharashtra government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and allies, of gross negligence over the infant’s death.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party government spends thousands of rupees on propaganda, but does it have the money to buy medicines for children?” Rahul Gandhi, leader of the main opposition Congress party, said in a post on social media platform X. .
Patients crammed into the hallways and pigs roamed the grounds outside Shankarao Chawan Hospital on Tuesday, underscoring the chaos at most state-run hospitals in the world’s most populous country.
India’s public health system is woefully ill-equipped and suffers from shortages of staff and equipment. According to the World Health Organization, the doctor-patient ratio is 0.7 per 1,000 people, and he recommends a level of 1 per 1,000 people.
Sunday’s death was the second such incident in Maharashtra in recent months.
In August, local media reported that 18 people admitted to a state-run hospital in Thane region died within 24 hours. At the time, the state government ordered an inquiry into the incident.
