Kota infant deaths: NHRC issues notice to Chief Secretary, seeks detailed report in 4 weeks

Taking a suo motu cognizance of media reports about the death of more than 100 children at a government-run hospital in Kota district in December, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to Chief Secretary of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report within 4 weeks about the steps being taken to address the issue.

The Commission also asked the Chief Secretary to ensure that such deaths of the children do not recur in future due to lack of infrastructure and health facilities at the hospitals.

"Ten out of hundred children died within 48 hours between December 23 and 24, 2019. Reportedly, over 50 per cent of the gadgets installed in the hospital are defunct and the hospital is lacking cleanliness and basic infrastructure including oxygen supply in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)," the Commission said.

Expressing concern over infant "painful" deaths, NHRC said the Commission has observed that the "contents of the media reports, if true, raise a serious issue of violation of human rights".

"According to the media reports, the state authorities have reportedly stated that the number of deaths is low in comparison with earlier years. As per the statistics quoted by the State authorities 963 children have died in the year 2019 at J.K. Lon government hospital while this figure was above 1,000 in the preceding years," read the release.