Infant deaths in Kota

Kota, the city in Rajasthan known for being a coaching hub, is now in the news for the tragic death of over 100 infants at a hospital in a month. The deaths have raised queries over the adequacy of infrastructure and the conditions in which treatment was carried out. The tragedy has also been ascribed to social factors like poor maternal nutrition and education, which prevents proper childcare, besides child marriage, not surprising in a state where it has been a ritual to marry off kids on Akshaya Tritiya. That it should happen in the constituency of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla — a BJP MP — and a state ruled by the Congress, has set off a blame game, with Sonia Gandhi asking the Rajasthan CM for a report, and BSP supremo Mayawati along with UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath berating the ruling party for poorly handling the situation. Adityanath himself has been under fire after several children died at a hospital in Gorakhpur and a doctor, Kafeel Khan, was arrested. The Centre has dispatched a team to Rajasthan to help improve the situation.

Hospitals in the government sector have the finest doctors who are hamstrung due to the inadequacy of equipment and the rush of patients. Resource constraint results in poor spending on public healthcare, which is already stretched to the limit, and private medical bills burn a hole in the pocket.

The Congress is naturally worried. After having taken the Centre to task on the citizenship issue, and basking in the glow of victory in Jharkhand, where Ashok Gehlot was present at the swearing-in of CM Hemant Soren of JMM, it will now have to do damage control. In his previous term, Gehlot started a scheme for free medicines in government hospitals and promised a right to healthcare law this time. With the IMA criticising the Centre for making Ayushman Bharat an ‘insured’ and not ‘assured’ healthcare scheme, and lamenting about a shortage of medical practitioners even as there are unemployed doctors, the issue threatens to take a political turn.