Srinagar:
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has assured "visible improvement" within the next 10 days in the state of affairs at the GB Pant Hospital in Srinagar, where 44 infants have died in the last two weeks.
"Clearly there is enormous scope of improvement. I can assure you that within the next week to 10 days, you will see visible improvement in the functioning of the hospital," the chief minister said.
Yesterday, the state government transferred the Medical Superintendent of the hospital after a preliminary probe found that the hospital allegedly lacked manpower and equipment and also blamed the management.
"As an administrative measure, immediately Dr Javed Chawdhary, who is the Medical Superintendent Incharge of the Hospital, is being attached with Medical Education department," M K Dwivedi, Commissioner-Secretary of Health and Medical Education, told reporters.
According to Mr Dwivedi, over 300 infants have died in the hospital since January 1 this year - 85 in April, 105 in March, 66 in February and 68 in January this year.
The official said the preliminary probe by Dr Showkat Zargar, director of the prestigious Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Soura (SKIMS), found that the hospital lacked in "capacity on many fronts".
"Dr Zargar has pointed out that the hospital is lacking in capacity on many fronts like manpower, equipment and overall management of the services rendered by the hospital," Mr Dwivedi said.