Infant Deaths

Newborns dying in hospital in large numbers is always distressing. Presently Jorhat Medical College and Hospital (JMCH), the highest referral civil hospital for Jorhat, Golaghat, Sivasagar and Charaideo districts, is in the news with as many as 18 infants dying in the first 9 days of November. Predictably, it has sparked a public outcry, with affected families alleging neglect and callousness by hospital staff. The 4-member high-level probe team dispatched by Dispur, not surprisingly, has a different take on the shocking matter. Sifting through the technical jargon mouthed in answer to newsmen’s queries, what comes across is a clean chit to JMCH authority. Negligence has been ruled out — rather, the cause of infant deaths has been reportedly ascribed to sudden rise in admission of newborns to more than double the bed capacity, periphery hospitals referring to JMCH babies already in critical condition, birth of babies severely underweight or having congenital anomalies or afflicted with infection or breathing problem, expectant mothers admitted only an hour or two prior to delivery, no previous ante-natal examinations or records of expectant mothers, and so on. So what is the solution? The probe committee is learnt to have recommended enhancement of infrastructure to cope with the steep rise in admission of patients including newborns. This will call for more beds, medical facilities and staff in keeping with MCI guidelines. It will also require JMCH authority to carry out power and fire safety audits, as the power load will increase. This is important, considering the fire incidents reported earlier in JMCH. Then again, the capabilities of peripheral government hospitals are also shown in poor light. So rock-bottom are their treatment facilities that almost all cases requiring some care are straightaway referred to JMCH. It is significant that the panel has recommended equipping 108 emergency service ambulances with critical care facilities for newborns being brought from peripheral areas. Nearly half the babies belonged to parents from the tea community, which is but another aspect of the deprivation that the community suffers from. As for JMCH, it has been beset with critical shortage of specialist doctors and medical equipment since its inception in 2009. It is unacceptable that a government college and hospital of this stature still remains at a loose end after a decade in operation; till date, it is yet to have a settled staff while several senior doctors are known to be seeking transfers or preparing to quit; allegations of malpractices and irregularities in the hospital are too persistent to sweep under the carpet. There have been infant deaths in large numbers in the past year in government hospitals at Gorakhpur and Farrukhabad in UP, Jamshedpur in Jharkhand and Kolar in Karnataka. The governments in these States have been forced to scramble, because infant deaths bring to a boil the people’s utter loss of faith in public healthcare. Around 7.5 lakh below 28 days old die every year in this country, yet there is little published literature analysing State-wise child mortality data or evaluating the impact of government programmes on neonatal and infant mortality. When elections in a country like the US can hinge on health issues, as it happened recently in their congressional and senate elections, surely the time has come for health issues to be taken seriously in this country’s public sphere.