June 27, 2019
Saugata Roy speaks on the death of children in a hospital in Muzaffarpur
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Sir, we are concerned over the death of children in the SK Medical College and Hospital, Muzaffarpur. The death toll has touched 150 so far. Although I saw that the Health Minister went there, he has not made any statement in this House on the reason of death of so many children.
Now, new facts have come to light about the Central Government run Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, a super-speciality hospital in Delhi. It is reported that in six years, over 6000 child deaths were reported at Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital, which is a referral hospital for children from all over India. The most common causes of death at the hospital include premature birth, respiratory infections, septicemia and other infections. Fifty per cent of the deaths are reported in the first 48 hours of admission, which indicates a serious condition of the children. The infrastructure in Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital is inadequate to meet the demands of the patients.
In this case, Sir, I think the Government of India can take a lesson from West Bengal where the Government under Mamata Banerjee has set up large number of SNCUs. The government has brought down the number of child deaths drastically and also brought down the MMR, the Maternal Mortality Rate, drastically.
The Government should make efforts to improve the infrastructure of Central Government-run hospitals and take steps throughout the country to reduce the instances of child deaths due to inadequate facilities.
Thank you, Sir.
