Infant of 5 days burnt to death in Nagpur hospital

NAGPUR - A five-day-old girl child was burnt to death due to overheating from a convector Sunday in a state-run hospital in this Maharashtra city, a senior official said Monday.

The incident was noticed Sunday in the general maternity ward of the Government Medical College (GMC) where there were 40 patients and five underweight infants. The infant was one of the twins - a male and female - born five days ago to Kalpana Thakre, 25, in a private hospital.

Since the twins were underweight and as the couple could not afford the huge cost of treatment, they were shifted to the GMC two days ago, dean Abhimanyu Niswade said.

The hospital authorities decided to raise the temperatures of the ward where the twins and three other premature babies were kept.

A convector - which is a fan with a heating facility on the back side - was placed beside the infant.

“However, the baby soon burnt and died later. The skin of a premature child is very delicate and could not bear the heat from the fan for long,” Niswade said. The other four infants were unharmed.

“It is indeed a very unfortunate and sad incident. We shall not spare anybody if found guilty,” Niswade told IANS.

Maharashtra Minister for Medical Education Vijaykumar Gavit ordered a probe into an incident.

Gavit visited the hospital for a first-hand assessment of the incident. Niswade said that the inquiry would be completed within three days.

He denied reports in a section of the electronic media that the nurse on duty was asleep when the incident occurred.

“From the preliminary information gathered, the nurse was on rounds for the other patients and was attending to other responsibilities. However, the inquiry will go into all these aspects,” he assured.

The distraught mother works as a help in the home of state Minister Anil Deshmukh, who also visited the hospital and comforted the family.