Nine newborns die in West Bengal's Murshidabad Medical College in 24 hours

Nine newborns and a two-year-old child died in West Bengal's Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in a span of 24 hours till Wednesday midnight, a senior official said on Friday.

Out of the 10 babies, three were born in the hospital and seven were brought there from other medical facilities for treatment, he said.

He said of the nine newborns who died, two were suffering from congenital heart diseases, one had congenital neurological problem, two were suffering from septicemia, three had low birth weight and one had congenital problem along with low birth weight.

One child was 26 months' old and was suffering from congenital ailments, said an official of the government hospital, located around 200km from Kolkata.

According to authorities, the babies were shifted from the SNCU (Special Newborn Care Unit) at Jangipur Sub-Divisional Hospital to Murshidabad Medical College due to lack of proper facilities.

The sudden influx of patients put immense strain on the already overloaded medical college, contributing to the unfortunate deaths, they said.

"Nine children have died in the last 24 hours. We have formed an inquiry committee. Based on a preliminary enquiry, most of the children were found to be malnutritioned and weighed 300-500 grams in weight. One among them had a severe heart problem from birth. We do not have such facility to treat him here and we did not have the time to take him to the facility to get him treated," said Professor Amit Dan, Principal of the Murshidabad Medical College Hospital.

"Another problem is that in PWD work is going on at Jangipur hospital and all patients there are being referred to us. We have 129 beds and 300 patients. We are trying our best but we are not able to save all children, most of whom suffer from malnutrition and are underweight," said Professor Dan of the Murshidabad Medical College Hospital

The medical college principal also expressed his condolences to the bereaved families and acknowledged the need for a thorough investigation.

A medical board of renowned doctors has been constituted to investigate the incident.

The state health department has also issued a statement assuring that necessary measures will be taken to prevent such tragedies from happening again.