J&K child rights body to hold inquiry into death of twins at govt hospital

Srinagar, Jul 20: The Jammu and Kashmir State Commission for Protection of Women & Child Rights (J&KSCPWCR) has taken suo motu cognizance of reports about death of newborn twins at a government maternity hospital here last month and decided to hold a fact-finding inquiry.

The commission took notice of the media reports about the death of the twins due to alleged negligence of the doctors and other medical staff on duty at the Lalla Ded maternity hospital here on 28 June, an official spokesman said Friday.

"The commission had come across reports appearing in a section of media about mishandling of cases in the hospital in which twin newborn babies lost their lives," the spokesman said.

The aggrieved father of the twins, who were born premature allegedly after induced labour by the doctors, had written an open letter to Governor Satya Pal Malik, demanding corrective measures in the hospital administration as well as patient care so that such cases are not repeated.

Abid Sofi, the father, in his letter claimed that the doctors had declared the babies dead, while they were still in the mother's womb, without conducting any diagnostic tests and given labour-inducing injections to the mother.

However, both the twins were born alive and died only three hours later, Sofi claimed.