Rajasthan: Newborns die at Govt hospital after warmers get overheated

Jaipur: In an unfortunate incident, two newborns have died due to overheating in a warmer in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of a government-run hospital in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district. After an uproar by the family members of the victim's newborns, the action on contractual employees was taken, and an inquiry committee was constituted.

The newborns, a girl, and a boy, were in the warmer when overheating incident took place in the wee hours on Wednesday at the Mother and Child hospital of the Mahatma Gandhi (MG) government hospital.

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While the 21-day-old baby girl died soon after the incident, the baby boy died on Thursday, police said. A hospital official said that the services of two contractual nursing staffers who were on duty at the time of the incident were terminated with immediate effect and an inquiry committee was formed.

The baby girl who died was under weight and was admitted to the NICU on October 5.

After a ruckus by the family members of the victim newborns on Wednesday, the action on contractual employees was taken and an inquiry committee was constituted. "Based on the report of the committee, further action will be taken," the official said. 

Medical Dialogues team had earlier reported about a similar incident in which two newborns who were kept at the sick newborn care unit (SNCU) at a government-run hospital in Ajmer district in Rajasthan had died after the radiant warmers got overheated due to a power cut induced voltage fluctuation. The radiant warmers are meant to keep the newborns warm. According to officials, the on-duty nurses were not there when the overheating due to voltage fluctuation had taken place.

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