Thane: The Mahayuti government has swung into action after the FPJ front-paged on Friday the death of as many as 21 new born children last month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the government-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital, Kalwa in Thane district, which is the home turf of chief minister Eknath Shinde.
The Congress party led by Amin Patel, MLA, drew the government's attention on Friday to the "shocking report" in FPJ. Minister Uday Samant promised that an inquiry would be made and a statement will be made in the House within two days. He also said he would personally visit the hospital.
It is learnt that a number of children admitted to the hospital's NICU have been dying. In fact, as many as 110 new born babies have died between January 1 and June 30. The break up is as follows: January - 17, February - 10, March - 22, April - 24, May - 16 and June - 21. Figures for July were unavailable. But, it is learnt that two died on Friday.
This is the same hospital where 18 patients had died within a span of 24 hours in December, 2023. Chief minister Eknath Shinde had visited the hospital and ordered its revamp. But little seems to have changed since then.
When contacted by FPJ on Thursday, the hospital dean Dr Rakesh Barot said the numbers are not alarming considering the fact that most of the children are admitted in a critical stage when efforts to save them in private hospitals have failed.
