Outrage as parents find baby’s fingers bitten off by rat in Madhya Pradesh

INDORE: The parents of a three-day-old baby girl, who died after being bitten by rats, were shocked when they opened the wrapping of the body handed over for the funeral on Saturday and discovered that four of the baby’s fingers had been bitten off.This contradicted MY Hospital’s claim that the rats had “only nibbled” the newborn. The hospital had maintained that both deaths occurred due to congenital anomalies and associated illnesses and “not due to rat bites.”The baby girl from Rupapata village in Dhar district was one of two infants bitten by rats in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of MY Hospital while undergoing treatment for congenital complications earlier this week. Both later died, one on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday. The body of one infant was handed over to the family on Saturday.“It was only after we opened the wrapping to prepare for the funeral that we noticed the hand. Four of the baby’s fingers were completely bitten off,” said father Devram.Parents Devram and Manju, accompanied by activists from the Jai Adivasi Yuva Shakti (JAYS) group, staged a protest at the hospital on Saturday, demanding Rs 1 crore in compensation for the families of both newborns and strict action against the hospital management.The parents said the hospital had promised to contact them once their newborn daughter’s condition improved after surgery. Devram said he was not informed of his daughter’s death until a local leader visited his home.“The staff told us to go home and that they would call us, but no one did for five days,” he said. “We were assured by the hospital that they would call us. There is a gate pass for each visitor, without which you cannot enter, so we waited for the call. We never abandoned our daughter,” he added.Following the deaths, MY Hospital superintendent Dr Ashok Yadav had downplayed the rat bites, stating, “Infants died from congenital anomalies, not rat bites. A rat had nibbled at a couple of the baby's fingers on Tuesday night and she died on Wednesday. Thus, rat bites cannot be the cause of death.”Both Dr Arvind Ghanghoria and Dr Ashok Yadav were unavailable for comment on Sunday.Four hospital employees have been suspended, and the pest control agency’s contract has been terminated. Show-cause notices have also been issued to the nursing officer in charge and the head of paediatric surgery.