At least seven more infants died while undergoing treatment at Sishu Bhawan here today, raising the death toll to 42 during the past eight days in this premier paediatric hospital of Odisha.
Commotion prevailed for a while in the hospital premises this evening when an irate mob locked the gates of the hospital after the death of a critically ill infant.
Seven more infants died while undergoing treatment, hospital authorities said.
While a central team from the Union Health Ministry accompanied by Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was scheduled to visit here tomorrow, the Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly Narasingha Mishra visited the hospital on the day and expressed shock over the sudden spurt in casualties.
In a related development, the Orissa High Court took up a PIL on the day and issued notices to the state government asking it to fill up the vacant posts of doctors and other paramedics in the hospital immediately.
The HC has posted the matter to be heard again on September 4.
On the other hand, four senior residents from the nearby SCB Medical College and Hospital were transferred here on the day and were asked to immediately join in their new assignments.
The referral hospital was running with acute shortage of doctors and other staff.
In the meantime, amid reports of negligence in treatment, the number of patients in the Sishu Bhawan OPD has drastically fallen. While the hospital was catering to the need of some 300 patients daily, only 120 patients came to its OPD today.
A member of the investigating team looking into the causes of the deaths pointed out that the infants who died during the past week were brought in extreme critical conditions.
Most of them were suffering from septicaemia with meningitis, birth asphyxia, viral encephalitis and acute bronchial pneumonia.
