New Delhi: Even as the death toll of infants at Kota’s JK Lon hospital climbed to 106 on Friday, district administration officials skipped crucial summons from National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) citing preoccupation with visit of state ministers.
NCPCR has now directed Kota’s chief medical health officer (CMHO) Dr B S Tanwar to appear before it with all hospital records and statistics on child mortality in JK Lon hospital on Tuesday. NCPCR has also written to Rajasthan chief secretary Devendra Bhushan Gupta taking a grim view of officials skipping summons and has requested him to ensure compliance with show cause and summons in the “urgent matter”. In the letter to Gupta, NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanoongo wrote: “A show-cause notice has been sent to the secretary, Medical Education Department on December 20, 2019 to furnish parawise reply to the observations within three days. However, no response has been received so far. During the visit and meeting with district administration and hospital authorities, CMHO, Kota was not present despite calling him many times.” According to sources, when NCPCR officials contacted district administration on Friday on the non-appearance, they cited visit by Rajasthan state ministers Raghu Sharma and Pratap Singh Khachariyawas as the reason.
In Kota, the hospital became the centre point for political slugfest. Right before the visit of the ministers, BJP workers raised slogans and were detained by the police. An hour later, BJP leader Mamata Sharma was not allowed to enter the hospital as Congress workers protested against the BJP and accused it of politicising the deaths of infants. Right before the visit of ministers, a green carpet caught the attention of BJP workers who said a hospital witnessing deaths should not hold ‘welcome parties’ for ministers. This was removed before the visit.
At the hospital, Sharma assured that the non-functional equipment would be set right by January 15. The state government has decided to release Rs 6 crore for new equipment and refurbishment of facilities at the hospital. Sharma held meetings with health officials and hospital staff. He also met families of the patients.
Source: Economic Times
