The Kerala Police on Friday registered a case against seven medical professionals in connection with the deaths of 38 newborns at state-run Sree Avittam Tirunal (SAT) Hospital here.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 4 : The Kerala Police on Friday registered a case against seven medical professionals in connection with the deaths of 38 newborns at state-run Sree Avittam Tirunal (SAT) Hospital here.
"There have been incidents of some infants dying in the pediatric ward of the SAT hospital. It is a government hospital. The apparent reason is some infection. We are not able to come to a conclusion regarding that," said P K Padmakumar, City Police Commissioner of Thiruvananthapuram.
A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder has been registered against the seven people.
"We have just started investigations and the magistrate court of Trivandrum has directed police to raise a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against seven people. We have registered a case, but we cannot say for sure that these are the seven people who are accused," said Padmakumar.
A special team has been formed to probe the case.
At least 38 newborn babies have died since January at the SAT Hospital, allegedly due to infection caused by unhygienic conditions. Official figures, however, put the number of deaths at 16.
Santosh, whose child died at the hospital, said he was worried about the health of his surviving twin-baby.
"On April 23 my wife delivered twins. However, after few days they (medical officials) informed me that one of the babies had died. I purchased all costly medicines till May 1. But after the death of one of the babies they stopped asking for the medicines and they are not giving any information about the health of the other child," Santosh said.
The Kerala Police has also reportedly registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Health Minister PK Sreemathi.
ANI