Delhi: Newborn dies due to unavailability of ventilator
Sep 18, 2020
New Delhi [India], September 18 : A premature newborn allegedly lost his life due to unavailability of a ventilator at a government hospital in Delhi's Malviya Nagar last night.
The baby was born around 5 pm on Thursday and was rushed to Safdarjung Hospital due to the lack of ventilators at the hospital. The incident happened at Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital. After the death of the newborn, the child's relatives are holding the female nurse hostage.
"A child who was born with a weight of around 1 kg and needed ventilation. We transferred the patient to Safdarjung Hospital since we do not even have ventilators. In the midst of all this conversation, the child died. Dr Ashish and nurse Anuradha from our hospital went there. Dr Ashish was beaten up due to which he fled and the family took the nurse hostage," MS Madhav, the CMO of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital told reporters here.
He further said that it was due to the issue of availability of beds, the Safdarjung Hospital claimed that they did not have a ventilator bed.
"When the staff of Safdarjung Hospital told the family of the child that you have to give consent that if something happens to the child, you will be responsible for it because we are going to shift the child to the general ward. They were not ready to give consent and in the meantime, the newborn collapsed," he added.
The CMO further alleged that the patient had manhandled the doctor who accompanied them to the hospital. "The doctor was threatened as well and left the scene. They held the nurse hostage but there was no manhandling with her. But they continuously demanded the doctor's presence who brought the newborn here and wouldn't release her until he comes," he said further.
The nurse was released after three hours once the police arrived at the spot.
"We were explaining to the patient that you should get admitted but that people were not ready because the doctor was very scared that if your child dies then it is your responsibility, not ours. When we reached with the patient, after some time, the family members of the child caught the collar of the doctor, due to which he left the place, he did not even tell me and left me alone," said the nurse Anuradha who accompanied the patient.
Sartaz Ali, the father of the baby said that his son was born around 5.30 pm and the doctor told him that the baby was in poor condition and required oxygen.
"Our child was admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. At around 7:30 I started coming out of the hospital. We arrived in an ambulance around 8:30 pm and reached Safdarjung Hospital by 9:00 pm. Amid the argument, my child died at around 11:30 pm," he said.
