Three infants die in Raipur hospital

Govt. says they aren’t linked to drop in oxygen pressure, but still arrests operator

Three infants died in a government-run hospital in Raipur on Sunday, allegedly due to disruption in oxygen supply.

The government however denied that a drop in the pressure of the oxygen being supplied had anything to do with the deaths, which were reported between 12 p.m. and 10 p.m. “It is true that the children died but not because of oxygen issue,” said R. Prassanna, the director of Chhattisgarh’s Health department. He conceded that pressure of the oxygen being supplied in the B.R. Ambedkar hospital dropped. But that occurred due to a mistake on a mechanic’s part, he explained.

“Yesterday [Sunday], there was a drop in oxygen pressure at the hospital due to the wrongdoing of the mechanic. But oxygen supply did not stop. Immediately when there was a drop in pressure, the Chief Medical Officer and the Superintendent were informed. They immediately intervened and sorted out the issue. The deaths of children are due to [other] illnesses.”

In inebriated condition

The operator in charge of monitoring oxygen supply, however, was suspended immediately “for dereliction of duty”. He was later arrested by the police.

Some health officials claimed that the operator — Ravi Chandra — was in an inebriated condition and was sleeping when the oxygen pressure dropped.

With this incident coming a week after the deaths of infants at a hospital in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Raman Singh immediately took cognisance of news reports about the deaths and ordered a probe.

Meanwhile, the parents of one of the deceased infants claimed that the authorities did not inform them about their child’s death. They said that they came to know of it from news reports.