A newborn baby girl died while another is undergoing treatment, after rats bit them inside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital (MYH) at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, which is one of the biggest state government hospitals.
Following the incident, the State Commissioner for Health and the Medical Education Department on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to the Dean of the Mahatma Gandhi Medical (MGM) College, to which the MYH is affiliated.
Besides, two nurses of the NICU have been suspended, the Nursing Superintendent of the hospital has been removed from her post, and show-cause notices have also been issued to other staff members.
The doctors of MYH said that the infant who died was referred in a serious condition from Khargone city. Doctors said her weight was only 1.2 kg, she had extremely low haemoglobin, and underdeveloped organs since birth. They said she was already in a critical condition when admitted to the NICU.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner’s notice to MGM Medical College Dean Dr Arvind Ghangoria stated that the incident points to gross negligence and irresponsibility by the hospital administration and medical staff. Dr Ghangoria has been instructed to provide a written explanation immediately.
Nurses Akansha Benjamin and Shweta Chauhan have been suspended. Nursing Superintendent Margaret Joseph has been shifted and replaced by Sister Dayawati Dayal.
MGM Dean Dr Arvind Ghangoria imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the hospital’s pest control agency, Agile Company. He also issued a warning to the company that its contract would be cancelled.
The government has also constituted a high-level six-member committee of doctors to probe the incident thoroughly and submit a report.