Kota (Rajasthan): The death toll of infants has risen to 110 at the JK Lon government hospital here on Sunday.
The toll was 107 on Saturday.
Earlier on Saturday, a central team of experts visited the hospital to take stock of the incident.
A three-member state government committee of doctors, who was sent to investigate the matter on December 23 and 24, found that the hospital is short of beds and it requires improvement.
However, the committee gave a clean chit to the doctors for any lapses over the recent death of infants admitted there.
Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report within four weeks about the steps being taken to address the issue of child deaths in the hospital.
The Commission also asked the Chief Secretary to ensure that such deaths of the children do not recur in the future due to lack of infrastructure and health facilities at the hospitals.
The sorry state of Kota's JK Lon Hospital is reflected in a government-appointed panel's report which shows around 110children died in over a month due to cold shivering in the hospital as it lacked everything a normal hospital should have.
The committee formed by the Rajasthan government to probe the lacunae in the hospital resulting in the deaths of kids has confirmed in its report that infants died due to hypothermia, a medical emergency that occurs when the body temperature falls below 95 F (35 C). The normal body temperature is 98.6 F (37 C).
Even as the kids in the hospital continued to die in the biting winter cold, the hospital did not have enough stocks of lifesaving equipment, said the report.
The newborns should have body temperature of 36.5°C; therefore they were kept on warmers where their temperature stays normal. However, as the hospital lacked functional warmers, their body temperature continued to plummet.
The report said 22 of the 28 nebulisers were dysfunctional, 81 infusion pumps out of 111 were not working and the same was the story with para monitors and pulse oxymeters.
What worsened the matters was the absence of oxygen pipeline in the hospital due to which oxygen was supplied to kids with the help of cylinders.
Surprisingly, the ICU was not fumigated for months, the report said.
"The children continued to die in December as Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot celebrated the launch of 'Nirogi Rajasthan' campaign in the state," said former health minister Rajendra Rathore.
Hospital officials said most paediatricians of JK Lon Hospital have been posted at Kota's New Medical College. "The nursing employees, already understaffed, prefer to stay idle while ward boys rule the roost in the JK Lon Hospital," said an official.
Also, the hospital staff continued with the whitewash in wards where infants suffering from pneumonia were admitted for oxygen.
According to sources, there was no record of 40 heaters purchased for kids. A hospital official said despite Rs6-crore funds lying with the hospital, no purchase has been made.
