The four infants admitted to the Neonatal ICU of Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital, which is in the eye of a storm over the death of 11 babies, are responding to treatment, a top official said on Wednesday.
The infants are suffering from “birth asphyxia” or respiratory distress.
“All the four infants in the NCIU who needed both ventilator and incubator support are progressing and responding to treatment,” Dean of the Hospital Dr Narayana Babu told PTI .
He also expressed hope that these infants will be taken “off the ventilator in another 24-32 hours positively. Top specialists are attending to the children and they are progressing.”
The Government Dharmapuri Medical College Hospital has witnessed the death of 11 babies between November 14-17. It prompted the government to form special teams to go into the incident.
State Health and Higher Education Ministers, Vijayabaskar and Palaniappan respectively, Director of Medical Education, Dr. Geetha Lakshmi, (specialist in neonatal care), Dr. S Srinivasan were among those who have led inspections.
Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the deaths were due to natural causes. The government took quick steps to handle the situation and have also put in place measures as part of follow—up action, he had said on Tuesday.
BJP demands white paper on death of 11 infants
Chennai: BJP Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday demanded a ‘white paper’ on the deaths of 11 infants at Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital and the resignation of the Health Minister.
“We cannot accept the claim of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam that the deaths were due to natural causes.
This cannot be brushed aside,” she told reporters here.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the deaths were due to “natural” causes and not “due to medical negligence.”
“Very young age of mothers, short interval between the pregnancies, low birth weight and pre-term delivery are the reasons for the death of 11 babies,” he had said.
The BJP chief slammed the Health Minister C Vijayabaskar for visiting the hospital four days after the incident.
On November 14, five infants died at the Neonatal Intensive Care unit and the figure rose to 11 on November 17.
Demanding a ‘white paper’ and government intervention, she said: “This is not a problem of Dharmapuri alone. This is a problem of Tamil Nadu,” adding, she would visit Dharmapuri tomorrow and hold talks with the people there.
She also alleged that “corruption was reigning in Tamil Nadu government, besides administrative deterioration.”
