An official inquiry report has dismissed the allegation that a newborn baby died after being bitten by an animal in a government hospital in Uttar Pradesh.
The District Magistrate Ujjawal Kumar, who had constituted a two-member inquiry committee to look into the matter on Sunday, described the incident as 'wrong' and said the woman had given birth to a dead child.
A woman named Saira Bano, a resident of village panchayat Bachhaipur in Dhanepur police station area of the district, was admitted to the community health centre Mujehna late on Saturday night following labour pain and the woman gave birth to a child, who died shortly after birth.
The family had alleged that the staff had shifted the newborn to another ward, saying that the child needed oxygen and they were moved out from there but on Sunday morning, the staff told them that the newborn had died.
They said, when they saw the baby, they came to know that some animal had bitten it and immediately informed the senior administrative officials about the incident and informed the local police, alleging that the hospital staff's negligence led to the death of the baby. District Magistrate in a statement issued late on Sunday night said the probe team which visited the hospital has found that the family had taken the infant's body home in the night but had brought it back in the morning.
The family made the allegations on the instigation of some people, he said.
"The woman was admitted on 27 August, 2022 for delivery. She gave birth to a dead child on the night of 28 August 2022 at around 1:30 am," the District Magistrate said, adding that the post-mortem report will clear the cause of the death.
Taking note of the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak, who also holds the health portfolio, on Sunday asked the Chief Medical Officer to look into the matter.
In a tweet on Sunday night, Mr Pathak said, "In the case of the suspected death of a newborn in Gonda's CHC (Community Health Center) Mujehna, on my instructions, the investigation by CMO (Chief Medical Officer) Gonda found all allegations to be untrue and baseless." The opposition Samajwadi Party had also hit out at the BJP-led state government for the poor health service in Uttar Pradesh after the incident came to light.
"Huge negligence has come to the fore at Mujehna CHC, Gonda. After delivery, the baby was kept in the delivery room where the wild animal ate the baby's mouth. These are the embarrassing and shameful horrific unsafe conditions of government hospitals in UP under Yogi Raj, what do people do and where do they go?" SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav had tweeted.
Mr Yadav on Monday again asked for an update on the incident.
Citing the probe report outcome, Mr Pathak said, "There seems to be a malicious attempt to malign the image of the department and the government, which I condemn."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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