Infant dies after fall from overcrowded hospital bed in Uttar Pradesh

A newborn baby died in an Uttar Pradesh hospital after falling from a bed that was shared by him, his mother, another woman and another infant, an official said Friday.

The baby boy died on Wednesday but the matter came to the fore late Thursday after relatives of the victim alleged that the hospital staff was trying to cover up the incident.

Geeta Mishra, a resident of Rasoolpur Parsada village in Sitapur district, some 80 km from Lucknow, was admitted to the District Women's Hospital (DWH) in Sitapur Tuesday and gave birth to the baby Wednesday.

Geeta and her baby were then shifted from the hospital's labour room to a bed. Later, another woman Meera Tiwari was also shifted to the same bed along with her baby.

"There was not a single inch left on the bed with four of us lying on it. Meera along with her baby was sleeping on the bed in the opposite direction. While she tried to take a turn, she hit my son with one of the legs. He fell on the ground and started crying. I called up the hospital staff, but they ignored me. My son then died," Geeta told reporters.

The state government has ordered an enquiry to ascertain if there was any medical negligence.

Sitapur Chief Medical Officer (CMO) V.K. Verma told IANS: "Following the mother's compliant that no one attended to her baby after he fell on the ground, we have initiated an enquiry into the matter."

Asked what could be the reason behind sharing the bed, Verma said: "It could be possible that at that time there was no vacant bed. But I believe the hospital employees must have exercised caution and made proper arrangements after the two were moved to the same bed."

Last updated on Nov 13^th, 2009 at 13:11 pm IST--IANS