NHRC Sends Notice To Rajasthan Govt Over Deaths Of More Than 100 Infants In Kota Hospital

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Rajasthan government over the death of more than 100 infants at a state-run hospital in Kota since the beginning of December, officials said on Friday. It has taken note of media reports on deaths of the babies at the government hospital, reported ANI. The Commission has issued a notice to Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report, within 4 weeks in the matter including the steps being taken to address the issue & to ensure that such deaths of the children do not recur in future.

Meanwhile, death toll rose to 106 as two more infants died in the JK Lon hospital on Friday. The Centre will send a high-level team comprising experts from AIIMS, Jodhpur and health economists to a government hospital in Rajasthan's Kota, where 100 infants died in December, to assess the infrastructural gaps and measures to be taken to prevent further deaths.

Hospital authorities, however, said the number of deaths reported at the health facility in 2019 has witnessed decline since 2014 when 1,198 children died.

The rights panel, in a statement, observed that the painful death of children in such a large number is a "matter of concern" for the commission. "The state is duty-bound to provide basic necessary medical care to its citizens," it said. 

"The state authorities have reportedly stated that the number of deaths is "low in comparison with earlier years", the NHRC statement said.

"As per the statistics quoted by the state authorities, 963 children have died in the year 2019 at J K Lon government hospital while this figure was above 1000 in the preceding years," the rights panel said, quoting reports.

The commission has observed that the contents of the media reports, if true, raise serious issue of violation of human rights.

"Ten out of 100 children died between December 23 and 24. Reportedly, over 50 per cent of the gadgets installed in the hospital are defunct and the hospital is lacking cleanliness and basic infrastructure including oxygen supply in the Intensive Care Unit," the NHRC said quoting reports.