Balasore: Tension erupted in the district headquarters hospital here on Sunday night following the death of a newborn.

Family members and relatives sat on dharna in the hospital with the child's body for hours, refusing to take it home and demanding action against the erring doctor. The matter was resolved around 1.30am after the hospital administration and police intervention.

Town police station inspector-in-charge Sarojini Nayak said: "Tension was pacified with the intervention of medical staff members and the police. We are yet to receive any formal complaint in this case."

Jyotirani Nayak, 20, wife of Narendra Nayak, 25, a small-time trader and a resident of Paikajugapur in Baisinga police limits of Mayurbhanj district, got admitted in the hospital on Thursday around 6.30pm. She delivered a male baby on the same night around 8.30pm after a caesarean operation. However, the hospital authorities later told them that the baby had died.

Narendra and his other relatives alleged that the doctor had demanded Rs 1,500 from them for operating on Jyotirani, and after a lot of difficulties, they managed to arrange Rs 1,000. The allegation is that since they could not pay the balance amount, no doctor from the hospital visited the child even after his condition deteriorated. The baby died at 10pm on Monday night. They alleged that the baby died because of medical negligence.

The situation aggravated when other expecting mothers, too, started complaining that doctors were not providing proper service if they were not paid the required money.

Chief district medical officer Meenakshi Roy said an inquiry was under way into the allegations. "The preliminary inquiry suggested that the infant died because on Sunday evening, Jyotirani attempted to spoon feed the baby. In the process, the baby choked to death."

"The allegation about the demand of money by the doctors and touts in the hospital is being probed," she said.