New Delhi: A newborn baby, who was allegedly “declared dead” soon after birth at the Delhi government-run LNJP hospital and was later found alive, remains critical and has been put on a ventilator. Officials gave this information on Tuesday. The infant, weighing only 490 grams when its mother was 23 weeks pregnant, was found alive when the family was planning to bury it.
A senior doctor of the hospital said, “The condition of the girl child remains critical and is on ventilator support. She is being monitored.” Another doctor said the child’s chances of survival were ‘slim’. He said that from the medical point of view such pregnancies are considered unviable.
The doctor said the hospital has constituted a three-member panel to probe the incident and the report will be submitted on Wednesday. The doctor said the panel has spoken to the doctors on duty that day to ascertain the sequence of events.
The child’s family said they would lodge a police complaint in the matter. “The baby girl is not on ventilator. Instead she has just been admitted to the nursery. We will file a police complaint today and want the guilty doctors to be punished.”
World class health model of AAP
A newborn was packed in a box and handed over to the family, who were told the child had died by the LNJP
When the relatives opened the box, the child was alive.
criminal negligence
Sad this is what happens when your health minister is a hawala minister! pic.twitter.com/bv2tkJ0M4L— Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) February 20, 2023
The girl’s uncle Mohammad Salman told PTI over phone, “We want an FIR to be registered in the matter and the doctors who declared my niece dead should also be suspended.”
The 35-year-old mother of the child has another three-year-old daughter. The family said the child’s father worked in the business of simple toolmaking.
“The baby girl was handed over to us in a box and we took her to our home in New Mustafabad. We started preparations for her burial and ordered a grave to be prepared for her. Around 7.30 am, when we opened the box , we saw the child moving legs and arms. We immediately took him back to the hospital,” victim Salman had said on Monday.
The hospital has said that such babies are considered ‘miscarriage babies’ and after the baby showed signs of life, it was immediately put on life support. The 2,000-bed LNJP hospital was the mainstay of the government’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.