Not less than 49 children died at a state-run hospital in Northern India allegedly due to lack of medicine or oxygen, Police Chief Dayanand Misra, said on Monday.
The latest deaths were registered between July 21 and Aug. 10 in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Farrukhabad city in Uttar Pradesh state.
The children died from complications including shortage of oxygen.
Following preliminary inquiry, Farrukhabad district magistrate Ravindra Kumar as well as two top hospital doctors were transferred from their positions and a probe was ordered, the state government announced.
“A high-level team will be sent to investigate the incident so that the real cause behind the deaths can be determined,’’ a government spokesperson said on Twitter.
“Parents have complained that their children died due to suffocation.
“We have registered complaints against doctors under sections including causing death due to negligence,’’ Misra said.
Registering complaint represents the very beginning of the legal process in India.
More than 60 children died at the Baba Raghav Das College in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in a period of five days due to complications resulting from premature delivery, various diseases such as encephalitis and alleged shortage of oxygen.
The child deaths triggered widespread criticism about medical negligence, corruption, and lack of infrastructure at Indian hospitals.
The Uttar Pradesh administration maintained the Gorakhpur deaths were not because of medical lapses.
They contended that there had been a high number of child fatalities in previous years.
They also pointed to outbreak of encephalitis in the impoverished region during the monsoon season, which is now drawing to a close. (dpa/NAN)