BARASAT: An eight-month-old baby gasped to death in her mother's lap in Barasat district hospital on Wednesday as one ambulance driver after another demanded money from the father for what is supposed to be a free service under the National Health Mission.

The infant's death exposes all that ails Bengal's healthcare system, where crib deaths are shockingly frequent and instances of nurses snipping off newborn's thumbs or inserting an IV needle in a baby's muscle are not uncommon. Before the ambulance drivers tried to fleece them, the parents had a horrific ti me just getting someone to take a look at the sinking baby.They say a nurse gave them an oxygen cylinder and walked off, asking them to put it on the baby themselves. When they said they did not know how to do it, a group D staffer took pity and strapped the oxygen mask on the baby . In Bengal's government hospitals, group D staffers also do uble up as informal nursing assistants.

According to parents, the baby was suffering from cold and cough for the past few days. She was being treated by a doctor in their locality in Amdanga's Dariapur, but her condition kept deteriorating. She developed respiratory complications and her parents took her to Barasat district hospital on Wednesday . “My daughter needed oxygen, but a nurse in the ward told us to fix the mask on her. How could we be expected to know how to do it? After pleading for several minutes, a group D employee put her on oxygen,“ said the baby's father, M Dadul Hasan. The infant was admitted at 11.25am. The parents alle ge that they had to wait 15 minutes for a doctor. At 12.10pm, the doctor asked them to take the child to RG Kar Hospital. But the parents decided to go to BC Roy Hospital. The doctors handed them a slip and asked them to avail of the `Nishchay Yan', a free ambulance service for expectant women and sick infants.

“We managed to locate the ambulances in the parking lot.The first driver we approached demanded Rs 150, plus tips, and an additional Rs 750 if my daughter was refused admission and had to be ferried back. We were told that the ambulance was free, but the drivers wouldn't budge.We did not have that much money on us,“ said Hasan.

Cradling the dying baby in her lap, Rohini Sultana watched helplessly as Hassan pleaded with the other drivers but they , too, refused to go unless they were paid. The distraught father ran to the hospital superintendent. By the time officials intervened, it was too late. Hasan came back to see his child dead.

The hospital could not explain why the baby was taken off the oxygen. Patients' relatives and locals stormed the hospital and forced the authorities to initiate a probe. “The baby was brought in a critical condition. We did everything to save her. A probe is on,“ said hospital superintendent Subrata Mondal.

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