Broken furniture at Puja Polyclinic in Dhanbad on Tuesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, May 31: The death of a newborn triggered a ruckus at a private clinic in Nirsa with angry relatives and local villagers going on the rampage and beating up the owner of the centre.

The agitators, who claimed that the baby had died because of medical negligence, damaged the furniture and laboratory equipment of the hospital.

The situation came under the control only after intervention of police.

Later, negotiations were held between the two parties after which the hospital authorities agreed to pay a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh to the baby’s family.

Shivani Singh (25) was admitted to Puja Polyclinic in Gafarbari around 8am yesterday after she complained of labour pain.

“The doctors said they would conduct an ultrasonography at 2pm, but later decided to go ahead with normal delivery after seeing her in an advanced stage of labour,” said a relative, Rakesh Singh.

He added that Shivani gave birth to a boy but the doctors declared the baby stillborn.

“The nurses then wrapped the baby in a cloth and kept him in one side of the room. Ten minutes later, when one of our relatives went to see the baby, she found that he was breathing and started crying for help,” said Singh.

He said that after they were convinced that the baby was alive, they immediately took him to another hospital, where the doctors put him under medical supervision for 72 hours.

However, the newborn died due to complications around 8am today.

The relatives, accompanied by local residents, then reached Puja Polyclinic around 9.30am and confronted the owner, Arvind Singh. When the hospital staff denied the allegations and instead claimed that the baby was stillborn, the mob went berserk.

Nirsa DSP Ezra Bodra confirmed the incident and said the matter was resolved as the hospital had agreed to pay compensation.