The West Bengal health department has suspended five senior members of a leading state-run hospital in Kolkata, along with three junior doctors and a nurse, for dereliction in duty that caused the death of two newborns on November 20.
The infants succumbed to excessive heat inside radiant warmers due to improper temperature monitoring. They were kept in warmers to save them from hypothermia.
“The head of the hospital’s paediatric department, the doctor and head nurse of the neonatal unit, the hospital’s nursing superintendent and deputy nursing superintendent have all been suspended, along with three junior doctors and the nurse on duty at that time,” a health department source said.
The steps were taken after a four-member probe committee at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, one of Asia’s oldest medical colleges, ran an enquiry and found the doctors and hospital staff guilty of negligence.
The probe committee, headed by college principal Tapan Kumar Lahiri, submitted its findings to state health secretary Malay De on Friday. Sources had earlier informed that a radiant warmer is a battery-powered device that helps bring back body temperature of newborns, many of who suffer from hypothermia after coming out of the relatively warmer climate of the uterus.
“Since the device has a sensitive thermostat, the temperature needs to be monitored at regular intervals,” a doctor said.
The parents of the newborns had accused the hospital staff of not paying attention to changes in temperature. They also alleged that due to unavailability of nurses, the mothers themselves had to monitor temperature and keep an eye on the babies.
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