Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday termed the deaths of two newborns at Indore’s Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital after alleged rat bites as “outright murder”.
“In Indore, two newborn babies died due to rat bites in Madhya Pradesh's largest government hospital - this is no accident, this is outright murder. This incident is so horrific, inhuman, and insensitive that even hearing about it sends shivers down the spine,” Rahul wrote on X.
Rahul argued that privatisation of the health sector has made healthcare inaccessible for the poor and turned government hospitals into places of death rather than care.
The Congress MP also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh should be ashamed.
“The health sector has been deliberately handed over to private hands - where treatment is now only for the rich, and for the poor, government hospitals are no longer life-saving, but have become dens of death,” he wrote on X. “PM Modi and the Chief Minister of MP should hang their heads in shame. Your government has stripped millions of poor people in the country of their right to health - and now children are being snatched from mothers' laps.”
A second newborn girl died on Wednesday allegedly due to rat bite at the government-run Maharaja Yashwantrao Hospital (MYH).
The administration claimed that the cause of death was blood infection and not the rat bite.
The body was handed over to the family without a post-mortem as per the wish of her relatives, a senior hospital official said to PTI.
MYH deputy superintendent Dr Jitendra Verma said the newborn girl, who had been recently attacked by rats and died during treatment, weighed only 1.60 kg and suffered from various congenital deformities, including intestinal deformity.
The girl had been bitten by rats on two fingers of her left hand, causing mild scratches, Dr Verma said.
On Tuesday, another newborn died due to rat bite at the hospital. An autopsy was conducted in the case.
Officials said both the girls were admitted in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the department related to surgery of newborns, and suffered from different congenital deformities.
Amid the uproar over the death of two newborn girls after an alleged rat attack, the decision not to conduct an autopsy raised questions.
A show cause notice issued to the paediatric surgery department's head for alleged negligence, officials said.
Chief minister Mohan Yadav said that he spoke to the health minister, principal secretary of the health department and Indore district magistrate, and has directed them to take appropriate action.
The government will not tolerate any kind of negligence, he warned.
District Magistrate Ashish Singh visited the nearly 75-year-old hospital, which is among the largest government medical facilities in the state.
In view of the rat problem, there will be a third party audit of the hospital and further steps will be taken on the basis of its report, Singh said.
Following an initial investigation into the rat bite incidents, two nursing officers were suspended on Tuesday and the hospital's nursing superintendent was removed from the post.
Another MYH official said Dr Brajesh Lahoti, head of the paediatric surgery department, was issued a show cause notice on Wednesday for allegedly committing gross negligence in the discharge of his duties.
An assistant superintendent-cum-building in-charge and an in-charge nursing officer of the MYH has been suspended.
A warning letter was also issued to a private contractor firm associated with MYH and a fine of Rs 1 lakh was imposed on it.