Balangir: Seven newborns die in 7 hours

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Oct 24, 2013 at 1:11 PM Updated On : Oct 24, 2013 at 1:14 PM

OST Bureau
Balangir, Oct 24:

Tension mounted Wednesday evening in the district headquarters town of Bolangir after seven newborns died within seven hours on Tuesday in the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the district headquarters hospital.

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Hospital authorities said out of the seven newborn deaths that occurred in the SNCU, four had Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) grade-3, one suffered from septicemia and the other two were pre-mature babies.

Chief District Medical Officer Dr Bikrant Kindo however, outrightly ruled out the possibility of negligence behind the deaths and said newborns who are in critical condition are admitted to the SNCU and all possible care is taken to keep them out of danger. He said he has ordered an inquiry into Tuesday’s newborn deaths.

Dr Kindo said the hospital had only 12 beds in the SNCU while 20 to 30 infants were getting admitted every day. He said admitting infants without requisite number of beds was causing great difficulty for the hospital.