File photo of BC Roy hospital in Kolkata
BC Roy hospital, Kolkata's premier child care facility, has seen 36 infant deaths in the last five days. And yet, top medical officials in the Mamata Banerjee government have denied any kind of negligence at the state-run hospital as the cause of the deaths.
"We cannot prevent deaths in all cases. We will try our best. But I have personally supervised this programme and there is not a single case of negligence," said Dr Tridib Banerjee, chairman of the Special Task Force (STF) set up a few years ago by Ms Mamata, who is also the state Health Minister.
Such statements, however, bring little relief to people like Pratima Pal of Uluberia whose three-year-old grandson is admitted at the hospital with dengue. The 50-year-old is scared to death by the news of the tragedy.
"The government hospital in Uluberia has no facilities for young children. So we had put him in a private hospital. But his fever wouldn't let up for 15 days. So we brought him here at BC Roy which, they say, is very good for children. But with so many infants dying, I am really scared," she says, her eyes moist.
Doctors at the hospital lay the blame on district hospitals, which, they say, refer patients to them only at terminal stage, which is reflective of the vastly inadequate health care facilities in the districts.
Swarup Biswas trekked 120 kilometres from Krishnanagar to bring his 48-day-old son to BC Roy hospital. He said the government hospital there did not have the equipment needed.
"My son had breathing difficulties, but the government hospital at Krishnanagar did not have a ventilator," he says.
While facilities at the BC Roy hospital may have vastly improved under the Mamata Banerjee government, crib deaths continue to haunt it. And the government's denial of negligence just worsens the pain for the parents.