MP infant deaths: Govt orders removal of two senior officials

The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday ordered the removal of two senior health department officials from their posts, following the death of six tribal infants at a state-run hospital here.

State health minister Tulsi Silawat, along with a team of senior officers, inspected Kushabhau Thakre district hospital here.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, Silawat said the department's senior officials were directed to remove Shahdol's chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Rajesh Pandey and the district hospital's civil surgeon Umesh Namdeo from their posts.

"The state government is serious about the untimely deaths of children. An inquiry committee headed by the district collector has been formed. Further action against the guilty employees and officials will be taken on the basis of the committee's report," Silawat said.

Earlier, Silawat inspected the children's ward at the hospital along with minister for Scheduled Tribe Welfare Omkar Singh Markam and principal secretary (Health) Pallavi Jain.

Six infants, some of them a day-old and others two- and-a-half-months-old, had died during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday in the hospital's Sick Newborn Care Unit (SNCU).

Following the incident, the CMHO had claimed that the infants were admitted in the SNCU of the hospital in a critical condition.