A nurse of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) here was arrested on Wednesday for “culpable homicide” in connection with the death of a newborn at the facility on Monday.
The nurse, identified as B. Mishong, was the sister in-charge of the GMCH’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in which the infant was undergoing treatment for jaundice. The four-day-old girl reportedly died after falling from the phototherapy bed along with another infant who survived the fall.
A police official said the nurse was detained on Tuesday and formally arrested for culpable homicide on Wednesday and produced in court. The court remanded the nurse to three days in police custody.
“We are questioning all those on duty the day the incident occurred,” the official told The Telegraph, when asked about other staffers under investigation in connection with the case.
The nurse was suspended following the incident.
Section 105 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) deals with culpable homicide not amounting to murder. It is a cognisable and non-bailable offence, and carries terms ranging from five years to life term if convicted.
The death triggered the accusation of neglect on the part of those on duty and other acts of omissions and commissions at one of the leading hospital in the Northeast.
It also saw chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma calling for strict action against those found guilty of dereliction of duty, besides directing the GMCH to apologise to the bereaved family.
The father of the deceased had lodged a complaint with the Bhangagarh police in connection with the death, a GMCH official said, without elaborating. The official also said a government inquiry was under way.
The nurse’s family alleged before the media that she was being made a “scapegoat to protect higher-ups” while describing the death
as unfortunate.
While interacting with the media, the nurse’s colleagues told the media there were 35 babies in the room in which the incident took place, and not 26 as claimed officially, suggesting overcrowding and heavy workload on the unit.
The chief minister, after a stock-taking visit to the GMCH on Monday, claimed there was no overcrowding on the day of the incident.
He had also warned that those staff, especially nurses, found negligent while on duty, would be transferred.
On Tuesday, eleven trolley-pullers attached with the GMCH were arrested on charges of “extorting money” from patients and their attendants. The GMCH said a private form supplied the trolley-pullers and they have sought their replacement.