Hyderabad:
Sitting in a dimly-lit staircase of a government hospital in Vijayawada, Padma stares at the dead body of her grandson. He lived for just a few hours.
"They were all watching TV when I called out to them. I am demanding justice. Not just because our baby has died but also so that no more babies die like this," Padma says, her voice quivering with equal parts anger and grief.
Padma's grandson, who died before he could be named, was among 6 newborns who died in Vijaywada's Old Government Hospital on Sunday. Through the night, Padma sat on a dharna outside the hospital. Opposition MLAs were quick to join her. They're asking the government to compensate the families who lost their babies.
Families blame doctors and nurses for negligence; they also complain that incubators and ventilators were not working properly. Doctors point out that three of the babies were brought here in critical condition from other hospitals. Also, they say, all six babies were either underweight, or premature, and malnourished.
The State Human Rights commission has asked the government to figure out what caused the deaths. "I have sent a team of doctors to inquire into the incident," says: D Nagender, the health minister of Andhra Pradesh.
The hospital also claims that several months ago, it had applied for equipment worth seventy lakhs for the ICU. It's still waiting for this budget to be granted. The Health Minister tells NDTV that this application never reached him. "I have a budget of 3800 crores," he says "sanctioning seventy lakhs would hardly have been an issue."
For family members like Padma, that's adding insult to unspeakable injury. That their babies may have died because of red tape or carelessness is a fact, she says, that she will never forgive, or forget.