Infant deaths: Mamata visits children's hospital

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee visited the BC Roy Children's Hospital in Kolkata today, where 21 infants had died in a span of 48 hours, triggering a wave of protests by angry family members who had lost their children.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tried to defend the doctors, declaring, "Doctors are doing their best with the existing infrastructure, staff shortage is there in all hospitals. I will see what we can do about it, I have requested doctors and nurses to carry on serving people without any hassle." 

Mamata defiantly added, "I will speak to PM Manmohan Singh and the Planning Commission. I want to make sure that poor people are not charged unnecessarily, some of them have to stay for over 20 days, how will they pay? It is a serious matter."

The hospital, run by the government, had declared the children were admitted in critical condition. The state's Health Secretary MN Roy has said that last June, close to 280 children were admitted, and 87 died. This year, 395 children were admitted and 86 died.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who doubles up as the Health Minister, had ordered an inquiry into whether the staff at the hospital was to blame for the recent deaths.

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The Superintendent of the B C Roy Hospital, D Pal had told PTI the babies who had died were either pre-mature or suffering from septicemia or low-birth weight problems. The medical institute is considered to be the largest referral paediatric hospital in the eastern region.

Earlier in September 2004, there were protests in the same hospital when 14 children died of broncho-pneumonia and gastro-enteritis, four of them because there were no oxygen cylinders.

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