Two babies bitten by rats die at Indore hospital: Officials make contradictory statements on autopsy

Indore, Sep 4 (PTI) The case of two infants, both girls, dying in the Madhya Pradesh government run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH) in Indore after being bitten by rats was on Thursday hit by contradictory statements from officials on the post mortem of one of the victims.

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, while the other infant passed away on Wednesday, officials said.

They said the body of the infant who died on Wednesday was handed over to the family without autopsy in line with the wishes of her relatives.

Hospital superintendent Dr Ashok Yadav told the media on Wednesday evening that the autopsy of the infant who died on Tuesday revealed cardiac vascular complications, septicemia and infection, all of which existed before the rat bites.

However, his statement ran into controversy after paediatric surgery department head Dr Brajesh Lahoti told reporters that the autopsy of this infant was actually conducted on Thursday. Sanyogitaganj police station in-charge Arvind Khatri too told PTI the autopsy was performed on Thursday.

Incidentally, the MYH administration has continued to insist that the fatalities were unrelated to the bites and occurred due to pre-existing congenital complications.

Meanwhile, MP medical education commissioner Tarun Rathi visited the hospital and said a state-level team had been constituted to probe the incident and action would be taken on the basis of its report.

Asked about the controversy over the autopsy, he said, "We must have enough faith in our system to believe that a post mortem report cannot be prepared in advance in violation of medical ethics." He, however, said that he would examine what information had been shared with the media earlier and fix responsibility if any lapse was found.

Under fire, the hospital administration has recommended blacklisting of the private firm contracted for cleaning, security, pest control and manpower supply.

Earlier in the day, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights issued a notice to the Indore district collector over the death of the two newborn girls.

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 NGO Jan Swasthya Abhiyan Madhya Pradesh. Its convener Amulya Nidhi alleged the deaths amounted to a serious violation of child rights, infection-control protocols and hospital safety standards," the official said.

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, he added.

Incidentally, Collector Ashish Singh, who visited the nearly 75-year-old hospital on Wednesday evening, had said 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”.

Hospital records show this was not the first instance of rats attacking newborns at MYH.

In 2021, a baby in the nursery was bitten on the heel by rodents. PTI HWP LAL KRK NR BNM