Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Newborn's death triggers row

Staff Reporter

Parents allege negligence on the part of doctors

VIJAYAWADA: A five-day-old male child died reportedly due to pneumonia at the district headquarters hospital in Machilipatnam on Tuesday. Parents and relatives of the boy alleged that the death was due to the negligence of doctors and staff. They took the body to the Collectorate and complained to Joint Collector S. Suresh Kumar about the "negligence on the part of the hospital."

Mr. Kumar asked District Medical and Health Officer (DM&HO) A. Ramprasad to conduct an inquiry into the death of the infant.

Avula Nancharamma, a resident of Balaramunipeta in Machilipatnam, was admitted to the hospital on May 9. The doctors conducted caesarean operation on her on May 12. She gave birth to the male child. The usual vaccination was administered on the child on Saturday. As the child developed fever, the doctors gave paracetamol injection the same day.

There was no change in the temperature of the child and the staff gave Vitamin K injection at the instructions of the duty doctor. The injection was given to the infant at 3 p.m. on Monday. The child went to sleep after that and never to wake up. Noticing that child was not moving, the anxious parents complained to the staff several times but the reply they received was that nothing would go wrong. When the duty doctor came on Tuesday morning, it was found that the body temperature of the child was very low. The doctor declared the baby dead.

Superintendent clarifies

Hospital superintendent A. Jagadeesh said that the child succumbed to pneumonia and the death was not due to the negligence of the doctors and the staff.

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