'50% casualties in Kota hospital were of outside patients'

Around 50 per cent of the deaths reported from the JK Lon Hospital here were of the children who had come from the surrounding states and other districts of Rajasthan and were in serious conditions, said hospital Superintendent Suresh Dulara.

Speaking to , he said: "Many ailing kids who have come from bordering states like Madhya Pradesh were in serious condition and still travelled this far. In December, the winter is quite harsh, the children catch cold easily and their condition deteriorates fast if care is not taken early. This is the major reason for the death rates having increased here."

The team from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which was in Kota on a two-day visit, is contemplating on an idea of providing the best medical facilities at the local level so that such families need not travel hundreds of kilometres with their ailing kids to distant districts, said Dulara.

So far 110 kids have died in the 35-day period between December 2019 and January this year. The Central team of doctors has initiated an investigation into the infant deaths at the Kota hospital.

The multi-disciplinary team that includes : Kuldeep Singh, Head of the Paediatrics and Dean Academics, AIIMS-Jodhpur; Deepak Saxena, Senior Regional Director (H&FW), Rajasthan; Arun Singh, Professor of Neonatology, AIIMS-Jodhpur; and Himanshu Bhushan Advisor, NHSRC and Union Ministry of Health and Family affairs. The team has sought detailed information on the hospital and infant deaths.

Earlier, the Chief Medical and Health Officer, Kota, B.S. Tanwar said that the team will investigate the reasons behind the infant deaths after interacting with the hospital authorities and will also track the private hospitals and other government health centres from where such infants were referred.

"The team will give its report to the Centre and also Rajasthan government," he informed.

Dulara said that providing best medical facilities at doorstep level is among the many points that were discussed by the committee in the meeting.

( With inputs from IANS )