Rats had nibbled off four fingers of newborn girl at MY hospital, claims tribal outfit

Indore, Sep 8 (PTI) Days after a newborn girl died at the government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH) here, a tribal outfit on Monday claimed rats had nibbled off her four fingers, and accused the medical facility's administration of lying and misleading everyone.

Officials said that on the intervening night of August 31 and September 1, rats attacked two newborn girls suffering from different congenital deformities in the ICU of MYH, following which they died.

The family of one of these girls lives in Dewas district, while the family of the other girl is from Dhar district. Dewas and Dhar are neighboring districts of Indore.

"The newborn daughter of Devram of the tribal community of Dhar district was admitted to the ICU of MYH due to congenital deformities. She died after being attacked by rats. After the postmortem, the body of the girl was packed in a plastic bag and handed over to the family late Saturday evening," Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) national president Lokesh Mujalda told PTI.

The family members were shocked when the packing was removed from the body before the funeral, as all four fingers of one hand of the newborn girl had been nibbled off by rats, he said.

Mujalda alleged that the MYH administration had initially misled the parents by lying about the girl and said that her fingers had minor injuries due to rat bites.

The MYH administration, facing criticism due to allegations of gross negligence, has been continuously claiming that the deaths of both newborn girls had nothing to do with rat bites. It said the girls died due to serious pre-existing health problems caused by different congenital deformities.

However, Mujalda claimed that the rat bites caused widespread infection in the newborn girls, and they died a painful death due to complications of septicemia (blood poisoning or blood infection).

"In such a sensitive case, the District Magistrate should constitute a team of expert doctors and conduct an audit of the death of both the babies," he demanded.

Mujalda stressed the demand for a fair investigation into the case and said that in a 'death audit' all the medical, administrative, technical, and other aspects of the death of the patient are deeply investigated, which makes the real cause of his death scientifically clear.

MYH is affiliated with the city's Government Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College.

Mujalda reiterated his demand to suspend top officials, including the dean and the superintendent of MYH, and register a case of culpable homicide against them. He warned of a protest by tribals.

Dean of the college Dr Arvind Ghanghoria, rejected allegations against authorities regarding the injuries to the two newborn girls.

"I shared with the media the initial information given to me by MYH officials regarding the incident. A three-member committee of expert doctors has done the postmortem of the body of a newborn girl. This has already clarified the whole situation," he said.

He further said that after the incident, along with changes in the administrative system of MYH, 'major improvements' are being made regarding cleanliness, pest control, and security so that such incidents do not recur.

In the case of the death of newborn girls after being bitten by rats, the MYH administration has so far taken disciplinary action against six officials, including suspension and removal from the post. PTI HWP LAL MAS GK NSK