In malnutrition zone, ‘healthy’ newborn’s death sparks unrest

Family alleges negligence at govt. hospital in Palghar; medical superintendent says the baby was stillborn

Mumbai: Four months after the deaths of 208 children due to malnutrition in Palghar district shocked the country and embarrassed the BJP-led State government, the demise of a healthy newborn three days ago is stirring disquiet in the district’s tribal-dominated Vikramgad tehsil. While the police have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in the case, the infant’s family is alleging medical negligence by doctors at the government-run Rural Hospital.

The infant’s family claims that his mother, Gauri Rahul Wagh, 20, was admitted to the Rural Hospital, Vikramgadh for delivery around 10 p.m. on January 11, and gave birth to a healthy baby boy around 5 a.m. “The child cried briefly following birth,” her husband Rahul, 22, said. However, the joy was short-lived: within minutes, the infant was dead.

According to the family, soon after birth, a nurse took the baby to another room, purportedly to weigh him. “When the baby was brought back to us, he was cold and had stopped crying,” Rahul says, adding the 3.25-kg child was dead by then. “It is likely that the baby slipped from their hands while being weighed. He died after falling on the hard cement floor,” he alleged.

Hospital authorities, however, maintain the baby was stillborn. Sources in the hospital say Ms. Wagh was admitted around 10.30 p.m. and went into labour around 12.30 a.m. “Our hospital does not have a gynaecologist or equipment for a prolonged delivery,” says Dr. S. Bhadange, acting Medical Superintendent at the hospital. According to him, Ms. Wagh was overdue by six days, as her due date was January 6.

The hospital claimed that the doctor on duty, Jasmine Gupta, is not a gynaecologist, so the family had been advised to shift Ms. Wagh to the Government Hospital at Jawhar, which has a gynaecologist and facilities for a difficult birth. Authorities also claimed they were ready to shift Ms. Wagh there, but the family refused.

Dr. Bhangade said, “The baby was born with two complications: there were meconium stains (the baby had passed stool inside the womb) and the umbilical cord was wound twice around the neck.”

Initially, the hospital claims, the family had accepted the child’s death. Later, when local groups began agitating, the family shifted Ms. Wagh to the privately-run Sharada Hospital at Vikramgad, where she is being treated for a low haemoglobin count.

Police Inspector L.P. Pachkude, in-charge, Vikramgad police station, said the post-mortem has been done at JJ Hospital, and viscera samples have been sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina for confirmation on the cause of death. “The reports are awaited,” he said.