Jhansi:

Sonu Parihar and Rajabeti got married in 2018 and wanted a child right away, so when Rajabeti finally got pregnant last year, the couple was overjoyed. Rajabeti went into labour on Thursday night and delivered a baby girl at the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in UP’s Jhansi, the same hospital where 18 newborns had lost their lives in a fire in November, not knowing that the alleged lack of facilities at the hospital would claim their daughter’s life too.

Parihar claims that after their daughter was born, she was suffering from breathing difficulties and doctors referred her to the Jhansi District Hospital because they did not have oxygen cylinders and could not spare a bed. The district hospital also refused to admit her, forcing him to do the rounds of several other hospitals in an ambulance for five hours before returning to the medical college. 

Parihar said he was turned away again and his daughter died in the ambulance. 

Authorities at the medical college have, however, said the baby was referred to the Jhansi District Hospital as their neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is still being reconstructed after the fire, because of which they do not have ventilators for infants. They also said that the baby had died by the time her father brought her back to the medical college.

From One Hospital To Another

“We wanted a baby ever since we got married. My wife finally delivered a girl and she died within five hours of being born. What should I tell my wife now?” Parihar said between sobs.

The grieving father said that when Rajabeti went into labour at their village Madawara in Lalitpur district on Thursday, he took her to the local community hospital. From there, she was referred to the Lalitpur District Hospital and then to the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi. 

“She delivered a baby girl at 7 am on Friday and doctors told us that the baby had breathing difficulties. They said they did not have oxygen cylinders or a bed for the baby and asked us to go to the Jhansi District Hospital. The authorities at the district hospital said they could not admit her because they have no ventilator and I then went to various hospitals, including private ones, but was turned away each time,” Parihar said.

“When I finally went back to the medical college with my daughter, I was turned away again. I lost her. She died in the ambulance,” he sobbed. 

‘No Ventilator’

The medical college’s Chief Medical Superintendent Sachin Mahor said they had to refer the girl to the district hospital because they did not have a ventilator. 

“Rajabeti was admitted on Thursday night and her condition was not good. She delivered a child on Friday morning after we operated on her and the baby had several problems when she was born. She was also facing breathing issues. Since work is going on at our NICU and we don’t have a ventilator, we referred the baby to the Jhansi hospital,” he said.

“Maybe the baby could not be admitted there as well. The infant was dead by the time the father brought her here. The question of not having a bed does not arise. How was Rajabeti operated upon if we did not have a bed available?” he added.

New Delhi:

The fire at a hospital in Uttar Pradesh that killed 11 newborns, was entirely accidental and not deliberate, a two-member committee investigating the matter has found. There is no criminal conspiracy or negligence in the incident, due to which no FIR has been registered till now, sources said, quoting the findings of the two-member panel. 

The fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the neonatal wards of Jhansi’s Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state’s Bundelkhand region.

The committee of Jhansi Commissioner Vipul Dubey and DIG Range Kalanidhi Nathani – which was expected to file its report within 24 hours — found that the fire was caused by a short circuit in the switchboard and could not be brought under control as sprinklers were not installed in paediatrics ward. The doctors told the committee that water sprinklers are not installed in the NICU ward due to the presence of newborns, sources said.

At the time, six nurses and other staff and two doctors were present in the NICU ward. One of the nurses sustained burns on her legs while attempting to douse the fire. 

The fire from the switchboard had rapidly started spreading towards the oxygen concentrator when a paramedical staff and two others went in with fire extinguishers. But by then, the fire was beyond control, sources said, pointing to the findings of the committee. Within minutes though, fire tenders reached the spot. 

The detailed report of the investigation committee is expected soon. 

A four-member panel though, has been formed under the chairmanship of the Director General of Medical Education, Kinjal Singh, will look into how the short circuit happened and if the machines in the ward were overloaded, in which case it would count as massive negligence.

The four-member committee has been tasked with identifying the cause of the fire and determining whether any negligence was involved. It will also provide recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future. It is expected to submit its report within a week.