Ahmedabad, july 25: The ongoing statewide strike of resident doctors has started taking its toll on human lives, with five infants dying at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the Sir Sayajirao General (SSG) Hospital in the last 24 hours.
The five infants had been were shifted to the NICU in the last two days. According to doctors, all five deaths were due to different medical reasons. It may be mentioned here that at present, the paediatric department of the hospital is working with half the staff strength.
“All the cases were highly critical… usually, there are three to four deaths every day among the high risk cases,” said Dr Bakul Javadekar, Head of Paediatric Department.
He, however, admitted that the department has been working with half the strength. “We have 30 doctors in the department but due to the strike, 12 associate professors and other doctors have taken complete charge. We also have four medical officers from Dahod on deputation who were trained in neonatal care. The deaths have not happened due to staff negligence,” said Javadekar.
Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Atul Saxena said, “Considering the number of patients being treated, the numbers (of death) are not alarming. It is not the medical negligence or staff crunch that caused the deaths… all the patients were in the high risk category.”
Two of the infants died of heart disorder, one due to low birth weight (600 gms), one because of tracheo-esophageal fiscus, while premature birth and blood congestion caused the fifth death, according to the hospital authorities.
This, however, has not gone down well with the parents, who alleged negligence on the part of doctors. “My child was born three days ago and was referred from Jamnabai General Hospital to the SSG. She was kept at the NICU here, but we have no idea as to what treatment she was given. She died at 11 am but for hours we were not told the exact reason of the death,” said Ramesh Macwana, a parent from Pachiyapura village, Nareshwar.
Dr Uma Nayak, assistant professor, Department of Paediatrics, said, “With so many patients and less doctors, it is possible that the parents were not properly and timely counselled by the doctors on the death of the infants.” She added that among those died today, some were kept on ventilator and one of them had undergone surgery. “The patients were highly critical.”
As per the records of the paediatric ward, 10 to 15 births are reported every day. In a weeklong analysis, the department has had one to two infant deaths everyday and three deaths on two consecutive days last week.
Six deaths reported from Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Civil Hospital also recorded at least six neonatal deaths on Friday, according to sources. However, there was no official confirmation of the same, as the medical records officer, Dr Acharya, refused to comment on it.
–Agencies