Vanasthalipuram: Infant's Death Leads To Outrage

The death of a newborn child at the Government Area Hospital in Vanasthalipuram, in Hyderabad's L B Nagar area, today sparked much outrage and even led the bereaved family to stage a protest on the premises of the facility.

The family alleged that the infant had died due to the "sheer negligence" of the doctors at the healthcare facility. They also alleged that the doctors who had admitted the pregnant woman on July 5 had ignored her even after she began to experience labour pains.

They added that the doctors had performed surgery on the expectant mother only after she had been in acute pain for three days, and then when the infant passed away they had told the family that this had happened because it had consumed amniotic fluid.

Enraged at the treatment meted out to the mother, which is what they claim eventually resulted in the death of the newborn, the family of the baby staged a dharna and demanded action against the doctors responsible for the incident. They have also lodged a complaint against the hospital.

Telangana usually does not record a high number of infant deaths - data on health outcomes shows that the state's Neonatal Mortality Rate (NNMR) was 16.8 per 1,000 live births in 2019-20 while the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) was 26.4 per 1,000 live births in 2019-20.