Keonjhar CDMO transferred amid outrage over infant deaths
Keonjhar CDMO transferred amid outrage over infant deaths
admin
Keonjhar: The Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) & Public Health Officer (PHO), Dr. Sujata Rani Mishra, was transferred to Nabarangpur on Thursday amid the uproar over the deaths of 13 children in a period of 18 days at the district headquarters hospital in Keonjhar, Odisha.
According to the Health Department's order, Dr. KC Prusty, an additional District Medical Officer for Keonjhar, will be in charge of CDMO and PHO.
However, Mishra had claimed in a letter to the Health Department that the hospital's administrators or the doctors on duty had no say in the situation. She denied medical malpractice claims by stating that "in all cases, the children were critical, which ultimately led to the deaths."
Dr. Mishra had admitted to the media that there weren't enough doctors and nurses to care for the infants in the SNCUs, saying that "the high-level team from the Health Department, which conducted the probe, acknowledged that there were inadequate Special Newborn Care Units at the hospital."
The state administration was harshly criticised by the BJP earlier in the day for the deaths of infants at the paediatric department of the state-run hospital in the district rich in minerals due to suspected neglect. "The passing of children is regrettable and utterly unacceptable. According to him, many of the kids who passed away at the district headquarters hospital (DHH) during that time were undernourished.
The BJP lawmaker from Keonjhar claimed that even the district headquarters hospital lacks a childcare specialist, accusing the government of being negligent in upgrading healthcare services in outlying districts.
