Deaths of over 100 infants and newborns raise alarm

NEW DELHI－The deaths in December alone of more than 100 newborns or infants aged less than one year at a government hospital in India's western state of Rajasthan signal a big crisis, attracting public attention.

According to the latest figures, as many as 104 newborns or infants died at the hospital in the past 33 days.

A central government team of doctors and health experts is visiting the hospital to investigate and will submit a detailed report.

The team comprising four doctors specializing in areas like pediatrics and neonatology have reached the J.K. Lone Hospital and Medical College in the state's Kota district on Friday.

The state's health minister Raghu Sharma is also traveling to the hospital to assess the situation.

Unhygienic conditions at the district hospital are believed to be responsible for the deaths, pointing to a deeper crisis in the primary healthcare system.

"Broken windows and gates, pigs roaming inside the hospital's premises and an acute shortage of staff" were found by a team of the National Human Rights Commission that visited the hospital, said the Hindustan Times in a Friday article.

"In the last six years more than 1,000 children have died annually in the hospital. The deaths point to a deeper crisis in the healthcare system," said the newspaper.

"Many infants are brought to the hospital in a terminal condition with bleak chances of survival as they failed to get adequate and timely care at the first two levels of healthcare systems in the country," it added.

"Rajasthan and the central government should use the tragedy at the hospital to embark on more comprehensive reforms in the health sector," it said.

Meanwhile, the country's health minister Harsh Vardhan wrote a letter to the state's chief minister Ashok Gehlot, expressing concern over the case. He requested Gehlot to"assess the situation and take proactive steps to avoid these preventable child deaths," said an official statement issued by the country's health ministry.