Kota Infant Deaths: Toll Crosses 100 in a Month, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Says Govt 'Monitoring Situation Carefully'

Jaipur, January 2: With reports of infants deaths mounting over 100 in Kota and other place of Rahasthan in a month, Rajasthan Chief Minister Askok Gehlot on Thursday that his government is monitoring the situation carefully and ready for improvement in the health sector. Gehlot also urged media to present the actual facts without bowing down to any pressures. He also welcomed the BJP-led team to give suggestions but requested them not to play politics over this issue.

Making an announcement about the government's concern, Gehlot said, "The govt is concerned about the death of infants at Kota's JK Lone Hospital. Politics shouldn't be done on this. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is decreasing in Kota and we are trying our best to decrease it further. Mother's and infant's well being is our responsibility." Apart from this he also said, "We welcome the Centre's team of experts. Their suggestions will bring improvements in the health sector of state. Nirogi Rajasthan is our priority. Request all media to report unbiased facts." Rajasthan Child Rights Commission Orders Probe into the Death of 77 Children at Kota Hospital.

Here's tweets by Gehlot:

Earlier, Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Thursday stated that their government is trying everything they could do to save the lives of children and asked the BJP to proceed with their fact finding report. The statement comes hours after the state government gave chit to the doctors of Kota's JK Lone Hospital from any lapses over the recent death of infants admitted there.

Expressing his concern over the rising number of death of infants, Sharma had said, "We are saddened by this, our responsibility is to give clinical support, several children were brought with critical ailments. BJP can audit if they want, we saved all the children who were in condition to be saved." Earlier on Tuesday, BJP formed fact-finding four-member women committee -- led by Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee, Kanta Kardam and Jaskaur Meena -- visited the hospital and expressed concerns over its infrastructure.

Following this, the state government in its report mentioned that JK Lone Hospital is short of beds -- functioning at 150 per cent of its capacity-- and its functioning needs improvement. Also, it blamed infected oxygen cylinder for the poor health of the hospital and suspended six officials. However, the visit by a team from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) on December 23 and 24 had served a show-cause notice to the state government. It had said that their three-member state government committee of doctors found pigs roaming inside the campus of the hospital.

As per the current records, over 952 infants have lost their lives in a year, while authorities claim that the number of deaths reported at the health facility in 2019 was less than 1,005 in 2018. Hospital authorities even claim that the death of infants rose due to low birth weight. State Health Minister even claim that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has actually improved under CM Ashok Gehlot government to 5.55 percent in 2019 from 7.62 percent in 2014.

According to the hospital records, 72 infants died in January, 61 in February, 63 in March, 77 in April, 80 in May, 65 in June, 76 in July, 87 in August, 90 in September, 91 in October, 101 in November and 102 (unofficial) in December.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 02, 2020 01:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).