Health Minister writes to Gehlot on Kota deaths

Aditi Tandon

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 31

Severe health delivery gaps have come to the fore at JK Lon Hospital in Rajasthan’s Kota where more than 90 infants have died in December alone.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today shot off a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot asking him to stop the preventable deaths of children at the hospital. Rajasthan’s infant mortality rate is 38 deaths per 1,000 live births as against the Indian average of 33 deaths.

“We are ready to provide any technical help or assistance. Let us ensure no child succumbs to preventable causes or due to lack of health system capacity,” Vardhan wrote to Gehlot today.

The Union Health Ministry’s review of mortality at Kota hospital has revealed shocking details. The mortality rate at JK Lon Hospital has been 20.2 per cent this year as against 14.3 per cent in the preceding two years. This means one in five infants admitted to this hospital in 2019 has died from preventable causes.

The review conducted using centralised special newborn care unit online software has also shown that 70 per cent of the radiant warmers were not functioning at the hospital in this bitter winter.

“There is just one nurse for 13 beds at the hospital where the mandated ratio is to have a nurse for every four beds,” the Health Minister wrote.