Rights panel seeks report from collector over death of two babies bitten by rats at Indore hospital

Indore, Sep 4 (PTI) The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights on Thursday issued a notice to the Indore district collector over the death of two newborn girls bitten by rats at the government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital here, officials said.

The NCPCR directed the collector to investigate the incident and submit an action taken report within three days, an official said.

The notice was issued on the basis of a complaint filed by the non-governmental organisation Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Madhya Pradesh. Its convener Amulya Nidhi alleged that the deaths amounted to a serious violation of child rights, infection-control protocols and hospital safety standards.

The NGO demanded an independent inquiry into the incident and called for infection-control and pest-control audits in neonatal and paediatric wards across hospitals in the state, the official said.

Rats bit the fingers of one newborn in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (MYH). The rodents later bit the head and shoulder of another child at the facility, one of the biggest government hospitals in Madhya Pradesh.

One of the infants died on Tuesday, with the hospital saying that pneumonia was the cause of her death. The other infant passed away on Wednesday, and the hospital administration claimed that blood infection and not a rat bite was the cause of death.

District Collector Ashish Singh, who visited the nearly 75-year-old hospital on Wednesday evening, had said that a third-party audit of the hospital would be conducted and further steps would be taken based on its findings.

So far, the MYH management has taken disciplinary action against six officials, including suspension and removal from posts, over the deaths of the newborns.

In the wake of the incident, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mohan Yadav for “government negligence” and said they should “hang their heads in shame”. PTI HWP LAL KRK NR