PUDUKKOTTAI: In the wake of BJP state president K Annamalai’s recent statement that touched upon infant deaths in Government Medical College & Hospital, Pudukkottai, its dean said that the numbers were stated without providing any context.
On March 2 in Chennai, the BJP leader commented: ''The Tamil Nadu government which boasts itself of being well advanced in health infrastructure had 247 infants die in the past 21 months at Pudukkottai GH.''
A video clip of the statement soon began to do its rounds on social media platforms and raised concerns over the quality of treatment provided at the hospital. When reached out to, Dean Dr M Poovathi acknowledged that Annamalai shared the right figures on infant deaths and said it was in fact the hospital that had given out the numbers in reply to an RTI. She, however, said it lacked context.
“Amongst the babies that died, there were very few healthy ones. A majority of them that died had various complications and such a situation is normal.'' While mentioning the infant death count to be less considering how it was over two years, the dean pointed out some of them were physically challenged and those that were underweight at around 700 grams.
“This is common to all GHs. In the past two years, the number of pregnancy-related admissions has risen but we are quite successful in reducing the mortality rate,” the dean said. Divulging figures, the dean said 6,461 babies were delivered at the hospital in 2020. In 2021, 6,984 babies were delivered and in 2022, the deliveries stood at 7,777. Further, in 2020, of the 1,641 babies treated at the hospital, 139 died.
In 2021, amongst 2,386 babies, 136 died and in 2022, 120 of the 2,486 babies treated at the hospital died. Anyone can see that in spite of an increase in admission cases, we have put in efforts to lower the mortality rate, the dean added. On the exact reasons behind the 247 infant deaths, she said, ''A total of 56 babies died due to respiratory distress syndrome, 47 died due to extremely low birth weight, 62 died due to perinatal asphyxia and 35 died due to sepsis.
These would be the major causes apart from other health complications.'' While assuring that the hospital administration was taking maximum efforts to control the infant mortality rate, the dean remarked showing them in such poor light on social media lowered the morale of its dedicated staff.