2 infants burn to death in incubators
A newborn baby was charred to death in a government hospital in Delhi late Tuesday, reports Metro Now. The baby, born on March 7, was admitted to the ICU nursery, after being born premature. At 2a.m., a surge in the power supply (a common occurrence in India) caused the incubator to catch fire. The baby's mother saw the blaze, but could not rescue her child because doctors and nurses had locked the nursery's doors and left. By the time security guards and nurses arrived, the child had perished.
Meanwhile, in Gujarat, in western India, another 3-day-old infant died in an identical blaze, after an incubator short-circuited.
Top hospital short of cotton wool
The Times of India reports that Delhi's top government hospital, Lok Nayak, has been without cotton wool for the past ten months. The hospital is not short of funds... and there is no shortage of cotton in India. The story is murkier than that. It seems last year, the hospital's administrator cancelled the cotton wool contract because the supply was of poor quality. Since then, no other supplier has been willing to sign a contract because of threats by the blacklisted contractor who runs, perhaps, the world's only cotton wool mafia.
Meanwhile, patients are being asked to bring their own surgical gloves, plaster, medicines, bandages, and cotton wool from nearby medical shops, which are making a killing. Rinku, 24, who fractured his right leg in an accident came for treatment, but had to wait while his family ran across the road to buy lots of bandages and cotton wool.