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NEW DELHI: Taking a serious view Kota chief medical health officer’s failure to appear before it in response to summons in the matter involving deaths of over 100 children in a government hospital in the district, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has now written to chief secretary of Rajasthan to ensure that the CMHO appears with the relevant documents on January 7.

NCPCR chief Priyank Kanoongo said the commission has taken cognisance of deaths of newborns in J K Lon hospital in Kota in December. Kanoongo conducted an inquiry into the matter by visiting the hospital on December 29.

A show cause notice was sent to Vaibhav Galriya, secretary, medical education department, on December 30 to furnish a reply to the observations made by the commission within three days on the observations made by the NCPCR team. “However, no response has been received so far,” Kanoongo has said.

NCPCR observed that there were no window panes, doors were broken and as a result the admitted children were suffering in extreme weather conditions. General upkeep and maintenance of the hospital is poor. Pigs were found roaming inside the hospital campus. No record of AMC of the hospital equipment was produced before the commission during the visit.

The team was informed that only nine out of 15 ventilators were functional at the time of the incident. While seeking an explanation on all these aspects, the commission has also sought information regarding the equipment which was not in working condition when 10 children died within 48 hours. It was observed that the hospital is having acute deficiency of staff and does not have faculty as per norms of Medical Council of India .

