Two Children Die of Pneumonia in State-Run Hospitals

Two children died of pneumonia in two different state-run hospitals in Kolkata on Sunday and Saturday respectively. An eight-month-old girl child from Basirhat died at BC Roy Children hospital following pneumonia. The patient was taken to the hospital on February 11 with fever but was released from the outpatient department after a preliminary treatment. The patient was again brought to the same hospital on February 20 as the child didn’t recover from fever. She was admitted to the hospital with viral fever, put in the ventilation support and died at 9 am on Sunday. In a separate incident, a nine-month-old child from Howrah’s Udaynarayanpur died at the same hospital on Saturday. Family members alleged that the patient required an ICU bed on Saturday as her condition turned critical but there was no critical bed available in the hospital. Meanwhile, a one-and-half-year old child from Howrah died at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital early Sunday morning. The state health department has asked all the Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMoHs) in the districts to make adequate arrangements of ventilators to meet any unforeseen situation. The CMoHs have been urged to open pediatric wards at female medicine wards of the hospital if the situation demands so.