Ban on delivery kits after ICMR finds them infectious

A Correspondent

Dibrugarh, May 31: A State government-sponsored delivery kit, meant for the safety of the newly-born kid, has turned out to be the reason behind their death. As implausible and surprising as it may sound, but the conclusion was derived only after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), based in Lahaol, found the kit infectious after it tested following a request from Assam Medical College and Hospital (AMCH). As per sources, the cost-free delivery kits which were supplied to all the government-run health centres and medical colleges across the State under the National Health Mission (Rural and Urban), were found to be the prime reason behind the recent rise in the neonatal deaths in the public health centres of Assam.

It has also been learnt that such delivery kits, which the State government was sourcing from an Indore-based company for the past one year, were often found to be unsealed, with some of them having gone past the expiry date as well. Although the government has imposed a ban on the use of these kits after the ICMR brought the matter to its notice, the decision was well behind time. Many hapless parents have already lost their newborn babies to the laxness of the State Health Minister and the State Health Department. Was it not the responsibility of the State government to test the kit for its safety before approving it? Just because they are provided free-of-cost, will the government not run quality tests on the delivery kits? As a matter of fact, it is sheer unfortunate as well as unnerving that at a time when the Centre is promising to bolster the public healthcare sector from the grassroots, flippancy of this magnitude has come to light.