VSS Medical College in Burla

Sambalpur, July 21: The loss of nine infants in a span of 24 hours at VSS Medical College and Hospital has left Burla fuming.

Anger is palpable among parents who lost their newborns between Friday and Saturday even as a state government inquiry team began its probe into the shocking deaths.

“I had admitted my baby in the special newborn care unit (SNCU) on Thursday. However, I was not allowed to enter the unit and on Friday a hospital employee told me that my baby had died. I believe that my infant son died because of negligence by doctors and paramedics,” said Rabindra Patel, who hails from Tiharipali in Kuchinda.

Patel has lodged a written complaint with Burla police, but the cops are yet to register a case in this regard.

Another person Jayakrushna Meher, whose grandson has been admitted in the SNCU, said: “The behaviour of the staff here is shocking. They are not at all serious about the newborns admitted here.”

Several residents of Burla and Sambalpur, including social activists, gathered in front of the SNCU to meet the inquiry team today.

“The hospital authorities could not give any satisfactory explanation about the death of nine babies in just 24 hours. Something must have gone wrong at the SNCU,” said Prafulla Hota, a resident of Sambalpur.

Even though a government-appointed inquiry team is on the job, health secretary P.K. Mohapatra has already jumped to conclusion.

“It’s a mere coincidence that so many newborns have died. There are inbuilt foolproof precautionary measures at the SNCU. Even lactating mothers are not allowed inside. There is a separate chamber for a mother to breast feed her baby,” he said.

However, he said, if any lapses were detected, corrective measures would be taken.

Action will also be taken if doctors or paramedics are responsible in any way, Mohapatra said.

In the midst of anguish and protest, the three-member probe team, headed by the director of medical education and training, visited the SNCU and recorded the statements of doctors, nurses and attendants.

“We will not conduct a unilateral inquiry. We have already recorded the statement of the attendants, nurses and doctors. We will also meet the aggrieved parents. Even the equipment at SNCU will be checked,” said director of medical education and training Sunamani Bag.

Hospital superintendent L.K. Dash said: “The deaths did not take place at the same time. The medical reasons for the deaths also vary. The newborns were not admitted at SNCU at the same time either. They were all in critical condition.”

However, one of the members of the inquiry team said they could not find any document on the condition of the babies referred from other hospitals.

The Congrees was quick to pick up the issue and opposed the visit of the inquiry committee. Party workers burnt the effigies of chief minister Naveen Patnaik and health minister Damodar Rout on the hospital premises and demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident.

The SNCU, established in 2008, has 39 beds for newborns. High-tech equipment such as warmer, ventilator, phototherapy, pulse oxymeter and electronic weighing machine are available at the unit.

Five doctors, including an associate professor and an assistant professor, besides four post-graduate students work at the SNCU. A team of 15 nurses and 10 attendants assist them.