Bengal’s children not have better chances of life?

BEDS AND MORE

In the latest spurt of baby deaths, the Burdwan Medical College Hospital — 12 to 14 babies reportedly died there in three days — competed with the B.C. Roy Postgraduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences in Calcutta, where 17 babies have reportedly died in four days. The Burdwan hospital has admitted that its infrastructure is inadequate: 151 babies are sharing 60 beds in the ward. This is infrastructure at its very basic, without going into equipment or attendance. The B.C. Roy paediatric hospital is always having to deal with more patients than it can accommodate, it being a referral hospital. Sudden clusters of deaths are not unknown here, but the hospital hopes to do better with the modern sick newborn unit supposed to start operating from today. Just as the Burdwan hospital is hoping to add 130 more beds by December. More beds, more machines, more care, more technology will all help, and these should have been in place long before. But the problem is not confined to the hospital. Many of the babies who are brought in are incredibly underweight, a telling comment on the mother’s health. Some are far too ill, which suggests that the ignorance, fear and poverty of their guardians prevented early diagnosis and care. There is also a breakdown of coordination at different levels. While delivery in hospitals and nursing homes is being encouraged, there is no institutional preparation for a heavier load, as the Burdwan hospital has pointed out. Then again, everybody is referred to B.C. Roy hospital, which, for it, is a close to impossible situation. But hospitals in the districts are either unable or unwilling to treat ill babies. These issues should be addressed too. Should Bengal’s children not have better chances of life? Letters to Editor Dying young Sir — I cannot understand how the West Bengal government gave the B.C. Roy Children’s Hospital a clean chit after so many infants died in the past few days. The inquiry ordered by the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, after the spate of infant deaths earlier this year has not been concluded as yet. It is true that many of the cases referred to the doctors at the hospital are extremely complicated. Even so, these cases need to be handled with care. No death should be treated as ‘routine’. Moreover, if there is no negligence on the part of the doctors and the hospital staff, then the hospital authorities would not have admitted that on an average five infant deaths occur out of the 300-odd cases on a daily basis. The problem is the absence of proper neo-natal care and the lack of sincerity on the part of doctors. There is also a shortage of incubators and other important equipment. Infectious diseases claim the lives of many babies. This will continue if the hospital authorities do not take urgent steps to change the work culture. Yours faithfully, Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee, Faridabad