Kota infant deaths: State, Centre should cooperate to stop such incidents, says LS speaker

Amid a political storm over the death of infants at a Kota hospital, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Thursday said it is important for the governments at the Centre and in Rajasthan to work together to stop such incidents.

Birla, who is MP from Kota, said he has requested the Congress government in the state to send a proposal to the Centre in order to deal with the issue.

"Kota is my Lok Sabha constituency and I feel extremely sad whenever any such incident happens. I went there myself. On this topic, I requested the state government and had a chat with Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on how both governments can work together," he told reporters here.

BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, as well as BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday attacked the state government in Rajasthan over 100 deaths in December at the state-run JK Lon hospital in Kota.

"The state government should endeavour to make sure that health services are available everywhere. Instead of going into statistics, it should try to stop the death of infants," Birla said.

He added that he has also asked the central government to send a team of specialists to Kota to figure out how to stop such incidents.