New Delhi: Many outborn preterm babies coming to some Delhi government hospitals and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences are reportedly facing discrimination, with the hospitals refusing to treat them.
There are some other government hospitals which are admitting outborn preterm babies into the outborn nursery. However, compared to the inborn nurseries in these hospitals, the outborn nurseries reportedly offer second class treatment.
Pandit Ramoji claims that his son was born preterm at 33 weeks in a government hospital in Gurugram. However, due to unavailability of a nursery, his son was referred to Safdarjung Hospital, where Ramoji's son is reportedly not receiving proper treatment in the outborn ICU."
Ramoji said his son is still critical and doctors are not properly attending to patients at the outborn ICU.
The same situation prevails with other newborns admitted in the same ward, i.e. ward 20.
However, an official spokesperson of Safdarjung Hospital refuted the allegations, saying there is no discrimination at the hospital between inborn and outborn care.
Meanwhile, a doctor raised a different opinion, saying, "Most infant mortalities happen due to this discrimination. Delhi has 40 hospitals, in which 14 hospitals have neotanal ICU nurseries, around 20 beds in each nursery.
Sometimes, doctors are forced to discriminate against some kids just because they were born outside their hospitals. "If none of these hospitals are ready to give proper care to newborns without discrimination, then they should not be allowed to delivery preterm pregnancies and high-risk pregnancies," said a doctor.
The paediatric department of AIIMS – which claims to be a World Health Organisation collaboration centre and runs a training and research programme in newborn care – reportedly refuses treatment to poor kids just because they are born outside, alleged the doctor.
Salim, a resident of Delhi's Mustafabad area, alleges that last year, his wife delivered a preterm baby at a private nursing home.
Due to the serious condition of the newborn, the nursing home referred him to a government hospital. Here, however, doctors refused to admit the baby because of lack of adequate facilities, he said.
An official of the Delhi government said, "After conducting a survey in various government hospitals, we found that there is an urgent need to raise the number of doctors and other paramedical staff dealing with the department of pediatrics."
The Delhi government is also planning to increase the number of beds in its hospitals so as to accommodate more newborn patients.