Another newborn dies in Delhi, father blames hospital

The baby, who was born on Wednesday morning, was first rushed to Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital (SGMH) and then later taken to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, where he was declared "brought dead" by doctors.

The baby, was born at home to Manoj, 27, and Tulsi, 22, after seven months of her pregnancy, doctors said.

"Our baby was delivered at home by a midwife, who then alerted us that he was having some breathing problems, and told us to take him to the nearest hospital. So, we rushed the baby to SGMH," Manoj said.

"But, doctors, there (at SGMH) said, the hospital did not have the oxygen facilities needed for the child and referred us to Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, where we then rushed to, but in vain," he alleged.

The SGMH authorities, however, denied the allegation, claiming, "the parents left the hospital on their own, without informing anyone".

"The baby was brought to the pediatric casualty department and he was initially attended to by junior and senior resident doctors," SGMH Medical Superintendent P S Nayyer told PTI.

A senior pediatrician was later attending to him, when another child developed a seizure, and so he had to go and attend to the other child, Nayyer said. "Meanwhile, the parents of the baby left without informing any staff at the hospital," he claimed.

The distance between SGMH and Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, that are both northwest Delhi, is about 4-5 km. They travelled in an e-rickshaw to Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital from SGMH and took about one hour because of traffic.

The couple's first child, a three-and-a-half- year-old boy, was also born at SGMH.

The death was the second such fatality within a week in Delhi as last Thursday a newborn girl had died also allegedly due to lack of critical care facilities.

The death of the newborn on Wednesday also comes just days after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had directed Health Minister Satyendar Jain to come up with a "concrete action plan" within a week on providing life support system for critical patients in the city's government hospitals.

Nayyer said after the incident an inquiry panel was set up and the panel submitted its report in the evening.

"According to the report, child was born premature (of seven-month-pregnancy) at home. He did not show any respiratory distress and so was not put on a ventilator. We have one ventilator in child casualty department, and it was unused when the baby was brought to SGMH," Nayyer said.