A 24-year-old woman has alleged that her seven-day-old son died of overheating inside a warmer at SSKM Hospital's sick neonatal care unit.

The hospital authorities have formed a six-member committee to investigate the death.

Priyanka Chandra of Budge Budge said her son had been put in a warmer in the SNCU immediately after his birth on December 3. He did not cry after birth, she claimed. "His condition improved in a couple of days but started deteriorating on Monday between 1pm and 3pm."

She said her son turned cold around 1pm. "I requested the nurse who was on duty to call a doctor, but she paid no heed.... One of them even asked me if I was more knowledgeable than them when it came to babies. Around 3pm, he started turning yellow and cold... his veins became prominent. I begged the nurses to call a doctor."

Chandra claimed that the nurse on duty increased the temperature of the warmer instead of calling a doctor. "I was there and I could feel the heat on my face.... When a doctor came the first thing he asked was why the temperature had been raised," she said. "He shifted him to the neonatal intensive care unit and put him on ventilator. The nurses were negligent... they burnt my child to death." The newborn passed away on Wednesday at 9.10pm. His father Sintu Chandra said he did not allow the hospital authorities to do a post-mortem on the baby.

On November 21, three babies had been placed in a warmer in the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital's SNCU.

Two of the babies had died, apparently of burns, when the mother of one of the babies had taken her child out of the warmer and left the thermometer outside without anyone noticing it.

Manju Banerjee, director, Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER) at SSKM, said the hospital received a written complaint of negligence from the baby's parents but said there was no mention of the warmer overheating.

"Going through the complaint, we felt that there could be negligence on the hospital's part. We have asked a six-member committee to submit their report as soon as possible," said Banerjee.

She said the baby had been critical right from birth.