As soon as the news spread on Monday morning, the Human Rights commission ordered the Andhra Pradesh Government submit a report on the issue immediately.

 

In fact, the matter surfaced only after the last death, at around 9.30 PM. During the day five such deaths occurred because of defective incubators. The hospital staff did not reveal anything till the sixth baby’s death. Soon after the death of the baby, the parents raised some uproar as their child had died only because of the negligence of the hospital doctors. The block where the incubators were located, has not been equipped with centrally organised oxygen systems.

 

The main reason why this happened, is because the junior doctors of all teaching hospitals in the state are on a strike for a week, demanding the enhancement of their stipend. Normally the children in this ward would have been under the supervision of the PG doctors. Since the strike is on, the hospital superintendent summoned a nearby primary health centre doctor and asked him to supervise.

 

The hospital in Vijayawada has been bifurcated into two - new and old. After a new hospital was set up in the premises of the NTR Health university, the infrastructure of the entire hospital was not shifted there. Many people still prefer to come to the old one as it is located in the heart of the city and near the railway station and bus station. However, the medical administration has sidelined the old hospital, showing a step motherly attitude in providing facilities here.