Sad: Warmer short-circuit kills infant

[Guest guest]

This is sad - and happens in India - Lokesh

 

NEW DELHI: In a bizarre incident, a five-day-old girl was charred to death at Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in Pitampura on Wednesday when a short-circuit in a warmer — in which the baby had been kept since she was premature — sparked off a fire.

The infant was undergoing photo-therapy treatment for jaundice. The distraught mother, Kamlesh Devi, has alleged that when she spotted the fire and called for the doctors and nurses, the staff botched up the entire operation. They didn't care to rescue the baby first, she has alleged.

The Delhi government, which runs the hospital, has suspended one doctor and two nurses who were on duty and an inquiry has been ordered. An FIR has been registered at the Mangolpuri police station for death due to negligence, under section 304A of the IPC.

On Wednesday, around 1 am, Kamlesh, a resident of Shakurpur, was sleeping outside the nursery where her five-day-old baby girl was recovering from jaundice. " I heard her crying and informed the nurse on duty but they didn't take me seriously and asked me to sit outside. But I went inside nevertheless and saw sparking in the warmer. It was only when I shouted for help that the doctor and nurses came but by then the cradle had caught fire, " recalled an inconsolable Kamlesh.

Kamlesh said they poured water on the fire to douse it and pushed her out ofthe nursery. " Nobody tried to take my baby out of the cradle, " she said. Kamlesh then informed her husband, Om Prakash, who rushed to the hospital.

A post-mortem was conducted at Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital and the baby was buried at a cemetery in Mangolpuri on Wednesday afternoon. Kamlesh and her family members are in a state of shock and her two children — five-year-old Jatin and three-year-old Komal — can't figure out why their mother is not talking to them.

An inquiry committee, headed by the deputy medical superintendent, has been formed and it will submit its report in a week. " We believe it was an accident as there was a short-circuit in the warmer which resulted in a fire. There was no time to rescue the baby, but I have ordered an inquiry. The baby was alone in the nursery, " said Dr Ashok Kumar Dang, medical superintendent of the hospital. The police have sealed the nursery.

Delhi's health minister Yoganand Shastri has set up another panel to investigate the matter and has suspended the doctor and two staff nurses who were on duty. " The inquiry committee will be submitting its report within 36 hours. We have suspended the doctor and nurses on duty. I have asked the principal secretary, health, to ensure that such incidents are not repeated, " he said