NDTV: New Delhi: Monday, February 05, 2018.
As many as
433 newborns died in 16 'Special Neighbourhood Care Units' (SNCUs) in Delhi due
to various diseases in the first six months of 2017, an RTI query has revealed.
Most deaths
were due to infection in the blood, pneumonia and meningitis, the state health
department said in a reply to the RTI query.
In the 16
SNCUs of the Delhi government, 8,329 newborns were admitted between January
2017 and June 2017. Out of which, 5,068 are newborn boys and 3,787 are newborn
girls.
Replying to
the RTI query filed by activist Yusuf Naki, the health department said 116
newborns died due to pneumonia and meningitis, 109 infants died due to
respiratory diseases, 105 newborns died due to lack of oxygen, 55 died because
of meconium aspiration syndrome, 86 infants died due to premature births, 36
newborns died due to birth defects and 22 infants died because of other causes.
Besides, the
reason behind the death of two newborns is still not known.
Dr K K
Agrawal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), told PTI
that if the child has an infection in the blood and it goes into the lungs, it
causes pneumonia, and when this infection goes into the outer walls of the
brain, it leads to meningitis.
He said if a
child is born with a heart, kidney or brain disease and he or she is not
treated immediately, then the child might die.
In 2016, the
infant mortality rate (IMR) was 18 per 1,000 live births in Delhi, better than
the national average of 34, the health department said.
In Goa, the
IMR was eight per 1,000 live births in 2016.
COMMENTSThere
were 10 deaths in per 1,000 births in Kerala. The IMR in Madhya Pradesh came
down to 47 per 1,000 births in 2016, it said.
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