LALBAG : The horror tale with Bengal's babies continues. A government hospital in Murshidabad district allegedly used

acid

instead of antiseptic during a delivery on Monday night. The newborn died and the mother is critical, says the family.

Coming after a spate of crib deaths at the

B C Roy referral hospital

in the city and a hospital in Burdwan, the incident drew yet another shocking picture of

health care

in the state.

There were conflicting reports about the newborn's death at Lalbag subdivisional hospital. While the mother, Sikha Bibi, insisted her baby boy was born alive and cried at birth, the hospital said he was stillborn. Sikha, however, said the baby was put on oxygen.

Even the administration spoke in two voices. The deputy chief medical officer health said a sweeper had "perhaps replaced antiseptic with acid" and that the woman was "slightly injured". But the hospital superintendent said the family had got their own ayah, who administered an antiseptic.

Sikha's private parts and her legs have severe acid burns and she is in tremendous pain, her family said. They were quiet for a day because Sikha's husband had not been able to arrive from Delhi, where he works. It was only when some local politicians learnt of it and demanded answers from the hospital that the incident came to light.

"Hospital

nurses

and ayahs washed Sikha with acid, which led to the baby's death and left her with burn injuries. We demand the culprits be punished," said Sikha's brother-in-law Ashraf Sheikh. Deputy CMOH B P Sau said an inquiry committee had been formed under hospital superintendent Saswati Nath and that action would be taken if the allegations were found true. Sau sought to defend the hospital. ""Sweepers had perhaps wrongly placed acid and the health staff took it to be Dettol or Savlon as they look identical. The woman received a little injury. I can say she gave birth to a dead baby," Sau said. The hospital superintendent said: "I have received a verbal report that someone had administered antiseptic lotion. She is not our staff. The patient's family had kept an ayah from outside. We will send a sample of the antiseptic lotion for chemical tests to know what it was." ' Congress MLA Saoni Singha Roy has lodged a complaint at Murshidabad police station against the hospital authorities. "I will write to the health minister seeking compensation to the victim's family. The culprits should be given exemplary punishment," Singha Roy said.