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Court notices to GTB Hospital, Delhi Govt.

Staff Reporter

PIL alleges that 500 new-born babies had died `Ventilator used did not display pulmonary functions'

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has issued notices to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in East Delhi and the Delhi Government on a public interest litigation (PIL) by an advocate alleging that more than 500 new-born babies had died in the "Out-born Nursery'' in the hospital due to lack of proper facilities for treatment.

Out-born Nursery is a ward in the hospital where babies born outside are treated. The petitioner, Varun Goswami, alleged that new-born babies were treated in a "grossly neglected and unattended'' condition in the Nursery as it did not have a proper and separate staff and the equipment installed there were obsolete.

The petitioner filed the PIL on the basis of a news report published in a daily here last month captioned "GTB: Big Risk for Little Patients''. Taking the petition on record, a Division Bench comprising Justice B.A. Khan and Justice Madan B. Lokur directed the hospital authorities to file replies to the allegations by September 23.

Ventilator

Referring to the sole ventilator used for treatment of new-born babies, the petitioner said that it was procured more than two decades ago in 1987 and at present it did not display vital signs like heart beat rate or pulmonary functions. Most of the time, it showed error and was dysfunctional, Mr. Goswami sated. Quoting some doctors of the hospital, the petitioner alleged that babies admitted to the said Nursery seldom remained alive when put on the ventilator, and about 500 babies had so far died due to the faulty medical equipment. The hospital authorities had spent huge amounts of money on irrelevant activities but had not cared to procure new ventilators, the petitioner stated.

Also, the hospital had only two phototherapy machines to treat neonatal jaundice, and on certain occasions as many as there babies together placed each machine exposing them to an increased and fatal risk of infection, the petitioner said.

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