Om Birla takes stock of Kota hospital situation

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday expressed his concern over the tragic deaths of the infants at a government hospital in Kota district and urged the state government to act with sensitivity.

Birla, who is the Lok Sabha speaker from Kota parliamentary constituency on Sunday visited JK Lone Child Hospital in Jaipur to take stock of the situation where near about 70 infants have reportedly died in the last 24 days. According to a report by the superintendent of the hospital, where all the deaths occurred, 77 children died this month itself till December 24, while a total of 940 infants died this year.

Birla took on to Twitter and wrote in Hindi, "The untimely death of 77 infants in 24 days in the largest hospital in Kota-Bundi parliamentary constituency is a matter of serious concern. The state government should act with sensitivity so that such incidents do not occur in the future."

On Saturday Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a high-level review meeting on the infants' deaths at at the hospital in Kota. Gehlot instructed health department officials to take proper care of newborns in all hospitals in the state and do intensive monitoring. He also gave directions to set up a high-level committee of expert doctors and subject experts in the case of deaths to submit a report at the earliest.

The state BJP president who also visited the hospital to assess the situation and also interacted with the attendants of infants undergoing medical treatment at the Neonatal (NICU) and Pediatric (PICU) Intensive Care Units and other wards.