54 Babies Have Died At This Hospital In 12 Days, And The Government Doesn't Know Why

Fifty-four babies have died over the past 12 days at the state government-run Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics in Cuttack (popularly known as Sishu Bhawan), putting the Naveen Patnaik-led BJD government in a tight spot.

Probes, questions and a visit from Rahul Gandhi

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An expert committee headed by the director medical education and training has started a probe into the deaths. Health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said the government would act on its recommendations. Meanwhile, questions have being raised about the hospital not conducting post-mortem examinations. The opposition BJP has called for a state-wide agitation on September 2, while the Congress has announced that party vice-president Rahul Gandhi will visit the hospital soon.

Possible reasons

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Records show death figures at the hospital have been rising steadily over the years. Experts blame this on an overload of critical infants being referred here from poorly equipped hospitals from across the state, besides from neighbouring Jharkhand and West Bengal. The number of such infants reaching the hospital is far beyond its capacity. The sight of sick newborns being treated in the hospital corridors is not uncommon here.

The 416-bed hospital has eight ventilators and 21 critical care beds in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and paediatric ICU (PICU). "But at any given point of time, the number of critical children needing these facilities are manifold," said Arijit Mohapatra, a neonatologist and state secretary of Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP). Mohapatra was part of an IAP team that visited the hospital on Saturday.

Deaths, in numbers

This year (as on August 28), the premier hospital admitted 11,250 kids. Of them, 965 died. Around 90 patients died every month over the past three months. In 2014, the hospital admitted 18,271 children. Of them, 1,522 died. In 2013, of the 12,683 children admitted, 1,033 died.

Arabinda Mohanty, a paediatric specialist and president of IAP east zone, said many of these deaths could be prevented if critical care facilities were improved in other parts of the state. "They are referred here as a last resort in the absence of such facilities elsewhere. In the process, crucial time is wasted," he said.

A preliminary inquiry report by the Cuttack district administration found those dying were mostly extremely low birth weight babies born prematurely and the cause of death was either septicaemia or pneumonia.

Mohanty said the overall death figures of the hospital were rising because of the steady rise in inflow of patients. "Otherwise, the death rate remains between 7% and 8%, which is comparable to deaths in similar referral hospital in other parts of the state. More and more children are coming to the hospital now because of the availability of the free ambulance service," he said. While the patients' numbers continue to rise, the number of doctors, at 89, and nursing professionals (173), remains the same.

A central government team, led by additional secretary Arun K Panda, visited the hospital on Saturday and suggested mobilizing more senior residents for better monitoring of the sick children, round-the-clock availability of lab facilities of emergency investigations inside the hospital and appointment of lab technicians, radiographers and paramedical staff to manage these services.

(Originally published in the Times of India)