NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry is sending a four-member team of experts as infant deaths in the Kota hospital continue unabated amid reports of massive infrastructure and manpower deficiencies.
The team will comprise of Kuldeep Singh and Arun Singh from AIIMS, Jodhpur; Deepak Saxena, senior regional director, Rajasthan; and Himanshu Bhushan, advisor to the government on the National Health System Resource Centre.
The expert team has been tasked with carrying out joint gap analysis along with the state government in terms of clinical protocols, service delivery, manpower availability and equipment for maternal, newborn and paediatric care services in J K Lone Hospital, attached with the district medical college where 100 newborns died last month.
The panel has also been asked to develop a joint action plan based on the analysis for providing required technical and financial support to the hospital through the National Health Mission and state medical education department.The team will visit the hospital along with state government authorities and submit the detailed report to the Centre and the state.
“I spoke with Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and assured him of all possible support to prevent further deaths (in Kota hospital),” said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.In a letter to Gehlot earlier this week, Vardhan had expressed concerns over the deaths while appreciating the state for “persistently showing decline in infant mortality rate for the last four years”.The letter, however, pointed out that as per available information from Special Newborn Care Units under NHM, higher mortality rate of 20.2% was registered in the Kota hospital in 2019 compared to 2018 and 2017 — 14.3% and 4.3%, respectively.