West Bengal crib deaths: 7 infants die at Malda Medical College and Hospital in last 24 hours

Crib deaths are back to haunt West Bengal as seven infants passed away in the last 24 hours at Malda Medical College and Hospital, which has become infamous for frequent crib deaths. According to hospital deputy superintendent Jyotish Das, the infants were suffering from low birth weight, malnutrition and respiratory problems.

No poriborton in healthcare

When Mamata Banerjee had come to power riding on the promise of poriborton (change) from the decades of mismanagement of the CPM she had promised to drastically improve the healthcare scenario of the state. The TMC election manifesto had promised significant healthcare service improvements and promised to revamp primary health centres, district hospitals, sub-divisional hospital and super-speciality apex hospitals. The number of infant deaths isn't actually that much higher than previous years.

In 2011, 109 babies died at Malda Medical College and Hospital, and 48 at BC Roy in 2011 but the government seems to have done nothing except creating a task-force. Unless primary healthcare and secondary healthcare units are revamped, crib deaths will continue. There's an urgent need to improve infrastructure at sub-divisional and district level hospitals so only a few big hospitals aren't burdened with the cases of sick infants. There's also a need to educate people about the importance of nourishing food and regular prenatal visits during pregnancy to bring down the neonatal mortality rate.