As Jhansi fire toll climbs to 18, hospital says 5 babies were already sick, parents link deaths to smoke

Possibility that health of some of rescued babies deteriorated due to inhaling of smoke cannot be ruled out, a senior official of the Jhansi health department says.

File photo of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) which caught fire on on the night of 15 November | ANI

Lucknow: Eight of the 38 babies rescued from the fire at a Jhansi government hospital have died while receiving treatment, taking the toll to 18 in connection with the blaze that took place on the night of 15 November.

While the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College administration asserted that five of the rescued newborns died of ailments they had been admitted with, several parents alleged that the smoke from the fire exacerbated health conditions of their babies, who were just about to be discharged.

“The cause of death in the post mortem reports of two of the babies has been confirmed as asphyxia, which means that they were unable to breathe properly. The possibility that the health of some of the babies deteriorated due to inhaling of the smoke cannot be ruled out,” a senior official of the Jhansi health department told ThePrint.

In a medical bulletin Saturday, Dr Aradhna Kankane of the hospital’s Department of Paediatrics, said that the post mortem reports of the five babies mentioned that they died of preliminary illness for which they were first admitted to the special neonatal care unit (SNCU). “Hence, there is no proof of the fire or anything related to its bad impact,” she said.

Dr Kankane said that 28 of the rescued infants were discharged and that another three remain under treatment at the medical college.

“Of the three babies, one is on ventilator support. This baby has meningitis and has infection in the mouth and in the blood (septicemia) and low sugar along with breathing problems, pneumonia. The second child is also on a CPAP machine. This baby is underweight and has a heart defect since birth. He, too, has breathing problems. The third child, too, has been suffering from a heart defect since birth along with infection and breathing difficulty which is why he has been kept on oxygen support,” she said.

On Monday evening, the second baby died of heart failure, anemia and low birth weight.

‘Baby inhaled smoke’

While the parents of the two of the eight deceased newborns said that their stomachs had swollen, the parents of two others said that their babies had been coughing.

Lakshmi Ahirwar gave birth to a baby at a government hospital in Jhansi’s Khairati area on 13 November but the newborn soon developed convulsions, her husband Mahendra told ThePrint.

“My baby was referred to the medical college, and we brought him here the next day. On the second day, the fire broke out and the babies had to be rescued. When the babies were being brought out, nobody had the time to check their identities. The authorities handed us an infant whom we got admitted to a private hospital,” Mahendra said.

He said that his wife realised that it was not her son but still breastfed and took care of the infant.

However, on 17 November, as the news reports about the family of Kriparam searching for their baby went viral, Mahendra and Lakshmi were asked to reach the medical college when they were informed that they had Kriparam’s baby in possession.

After handing over the baby, the couple was told that their infant was admitted to the paediatrics ward of the medical college.

“On 17th, we were shown our baby from a distance. He was on the ventilator and black residue was oozing from his mouth and nose. When my baby was first admitted to the SNCU, he was drinking milk…after the incident (the fire), we could not carry him in our arms even once. The doctor who conducted the postmortem informed us that the baby inhaled smoke,” Mahendra told ThePrint. “The baby we nurtured for two days is fine, but our own baby did not survive.”

Deepu Valmiki, whose brother-in-law’s son was admitted to the SNCU on 12 November after being referred from the government hospital in Orai, is angry at the medical authorities, including doctors and nurses.

“We were not allowed to see the baby even once. We were told that we could see on (16 November) but a fire broke out just a day prior to that. The baby was making movements, but had not cried properly at the time of the birth. Further, he was not opening one of his eyes. On the 13th, the baby opened eyes and urinated. On the 15th, he drank milk around 10 am,” the resident of Jalaun’s Kamsera said.

“We were told that the baby’s health would be fine within two-four days and that we could take him home after that, but the smoke caused by the fire exacerbated his condition. He started having breathing problems, which were not there at the time of admission,” Deepu alleged.

The staff closed the SNCU gate when the parents tried to enter the unit, he said. “Had the guards not closed it, parents could have brought out the babies.”

Radha of Lalitpur’s Parol village delivered a pre-mature baby weighing only 1.5 kg at the medical college on 13 October, her husband Pritam said.

“When the baby was born, we were told that he needs to be kept in the incubator so that he can gain weight. He had no other problem. Our baby had been recovering and the day the fire broke out, we were told that we would be able to take the infant home within the next two-four days,” he rued.

“The fire then broke out and everything changed. He (the infant) was kept on oxygen support for five days after which he remained without that support for two days. However, within the next 24 hours, we were told that he needs to be kept on a ventilator and that the baby’s condition has deteriorated as he is unable to breathe.”

The couple was handed over the baby’s body on 23 November.

Pritam said that even the adults who went inside the unit to save the babies from the fire, fell sick. “Even those adults who went inside the unit to save our babies had started coughing or started sneezing. How could a newborn survive that?”

Another couple Poonam and Ranjit Yadav had got their baby boy admitted to the SNCU on 15 October, five days after his birth.

“He was diagnosed with jaundice first. Later, the doctors said that fluid had accumulated in spine at the time of admission but he was recovering. He had even started drinking milk. A day before the fire broke out, we were told that the baby’s health had recovered and he would be discharged within one-two days… . After the incident (blaze), he had to be immediately kept on ventilator support. He was unable to breath and was coughing. His condition kept deteriorating and he died Saturday night. His post mortem was conducted yesterday,” Ranjit from Lalitpur’s Talbehat told ThePrint.

Dr Narendra Singh Sengar, the medical college principal, told ThePrint that asphyxia is a condition when the oxygen cannot reach the lungs.“Some of the babies that were rescued had already been diagnosed with problems like meningitis, pneumonia, other infections, etc. Only the details of the post mortem can reveal the cause of the deaths and that they have ruled out any burn injuries in most cases,” he said.

Asked if asphyxia could have been caused due to the smoke inhaled by the babies, he directed ThePrint to Dr Om Shankar Chaurasiya, the head of paediatrics department.

Dr Chaurasiya said that most of the babies referred to the SNCU are usually those with health complications.

“Usually, medical colleges get underweight babies or those with very less chances of survival. The survival rate in government college neonatal units has been high at other places as well. There was a baby with meningitis whom we tried to give oxygen support. There are chances of septicemia when such an incident happens (since babies had to be pulled out from the incubators , syringes were physically removed from their bodies by those who rescued the babies and several babies had started bleeding)and that cannot be ruled out,” he said.

But no parent is given any assurance that their baby would be fine and would be handed over within a few days, Dr Chaurasiya added. “When we discharge a baby, we always discharge immediately.”

Chief Medical Superintendent of the Jhansi hospital Dr Sachin Mahur told ThePrint that the fatality rate of government medical college neonatal care units is 18-25 percent.

Vishal Ahirwar, the uncle of the baby girl who died Monday evening, alleged that the family was informed about the infant’s heart defect days later. “We were informed about it days after her treatment began. The medical college does not have a heart specialist. Another baby who was rescued from the fire and had a heart defect had to be referred to KGMU, Lucknow,” he said.

(Edited by Tony Rai)