15-Day-Old Newborn Dies in Attappadi; Nine Infant Deaths in Three Months

Palakkad: A 15-day-old baby died at Thrissur Medical College Hospital on Sunday, with the family alleging medical negligence at the Kottathara Tribal Specialty Hospital in Attappadi. The baby boy was born to Murukesh and Sivakami of Vadakottathara.

The scan conducted when Sivakami was admitted to Kottathara Tribal Specialty Hospital failed to identify the baby’s actual condition, according to the family. A subsequent scan at a hospital in Coimbatore revealed that the baby had been born with an imperforate anus, a condition that had led to serious heart disease. The baby was immediately referred to Thrissur Medical College Hospital.

The child was born on October 10 and underwent surgeries on October 17 and 24. Despite the treatment, the baby died on Sunday.

The family alleged that the condition could have been detected if proper treatment and scanning had been carried out at Kottathara hospital, and that the failure to identify it had led to the death.

This is the second newborn death in Attappadi within four days. A 20-day-old baby boy born to Jyothimani and Biju of the Vechapathi tribal settlement in Sholayur died at Thrissur Medical College Hospital on October 21. The family had alleged that negligence by the medical college hospital authorities in caring for the underweight baby had caused the death.

With the latest incident, four newborns have died in Attappadi alone in the past month. The number of infant deaths in the region has reached nine over the past three months.