NEW DELHI: At least 35 children have died in a fortnight at a top hospital in Jammu and Kashmir, forcing the provincial government to order an inquiry. The children died at the GP Pant Hospital reportedly of encephalitis and R S Chib, Kashmir's Minister for Medical Education said, blaming doctors at this stage would be premature. Chib said, experts from another medical institution of the state – Srinagar Medical College – will conduct the probe and submit their report in a week's time. Chib however admitted that the hospital needed better co-ordination between its administration and medical staff. Meanwhile Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah had sought a report on the infant deaths on Monday. The G B Pant hospital in Kashmir is a premier hospital for children. Local media had reported last week that as many as 20 children died of neglect in a ward of the hospital. Government sources confirmed that most of the deaths involved children below the age of one. Doctors in the hospital have admitted that the situation is alarming. One doctor, who did not want to be named, reportedly said the hospital does not have enough infrastructure to treat so many patients at one time, leading to chaotic scenes there. Insufficient ventilators, non-availability of senior doctors among others were some of the problems cited by the doctor, who has been quoted extensively in media reports emanating from the region. There have been instances in the past one month where even three or four babies occupied a single bed at the hospital. GB Pant hospital is a 170-bedded hospital but at times occupancy touches 400, making doctors' task complicated. A similar situation had cropped up last year as well and people had launched protests after infant deaths in the hospital.
