77 infant deaths in Kota hospital in Dec rock Rajasthan

Kota was rocked by the death of 12 infants this week, two of them on Friday, in a government hospital here, prompting Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to urge Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to act "sensitively" on the issue.

According to a report by the superintendent of J K Lon Hospital, where all the deaths occurred, 77 children died this month itself till December 24, while a total of 940 infants died this year.

Officials said two infants died on Friday itself.

Acting on the report of deaths, which Kota's J K Lone Hospital authorities earlier described as "not an unusual trend", Gehlot rushed state Health Secretary Vaibhav Galriya to take stock of the situation.

Guleria reached on Friday afternoon and after initial inquiries, formed a three-member panel to investigate the spate of deaths and directed it to submit a report within 48 hours, promising "action" against the erring doctors after its receipt.

Out of the ten infants, who between December 23 and 24, five were newborns while the other five were up to one year old, officials said later.

"Action against the officials held responsible for the deaths would be initiated following receipt of the detailed report by the high-level committee set up to investigate the matter," said Guleria.