Twelve infants die in a day at Indian hospital

Twelve infants died in one day at a hospital in the Indian state of Maharashtra, sparking a political storm on Tuesday with opposition politicians accusing the regional government and hospital authorities of negligence.

The infants died on Sunday and were among 24 deaths recorded that day at the Shankarrao Chavan Government Hospital in the Nanded district, some 600 km (373 miles) from India’s financial capital Mumbai, hospital officials and local media said.

“My brother’s one-day old infant died on Sunday at the hospital, and he was the fifth baby to die. We saw four more babies die in front of us,” said Yogesh Solanki, whose family brought the baby to the hospital.

Solanki said the neo-natal unit of the hospital, where the infants were being treated, was very crowded on Sunday, with four to five babies in one incubator, which was otherwise designed to hold just one.

The dean of Shankarrao Chavan hospital, Shyamrao Wakode, did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on this allegation or opposition accusations of negligence, saying in a brief phone call that he had no time because a government minister was visiting the premises.

Earlier on Tuesday, Wakode told ANI news agency, in which Reuters has a minority stake, that the 12 adult patients died of various ailments including diabetes, liver failure and kidney failure.

“There was no shortage of medicines or doctors. Proper care was provided to the patients, but their bodies did not respond to the treatment, which caused deaths,” Wakode was quoted by ANI as saying.

The Maharashtra government said on Tuesday it had launched an inquiry into the deaths of the infants and other patients on Sunday.

“Twenty-four is a big number. Why did so many deaths occur in one day? We will investigate if it was because of lack of medicines, or a shortage of staff or some other reason,” state minister Girish Mahajan told reporters.

Opposition politicians accused the Maharashtra government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and an ally, of gross negligence over the deaths of the infants.