Five newborn babies die in Andhra hospital

Five newborn babies died under mysterious circumstances in the infants' ward of a hospital in Vijaywada, triggering protest by parents who alleged that their children died due to faulty incubators.

Krishna district Collector Peeyush Kumar has ordered an inquiry to find out whether the failure of incubators had led to the deaths.

Doctors at the old government general hospital claimed that three of the babies had died a natural death. Nine newborn babies are currently in incubators and the condition of one of them is said to be critical.

Tension prevailed at the hospital as irate parents sat on dharna, alleging that their children died due to negligence of the doctors.

Resident Medical Officer P Ramagopal of the hospital said they were inquiring into the actual cause of the death of the babies.

Telugu Desam Party Member of Legislative Assembly Devineni Umamaheswara Rao visited the hospital and blamed the doctors for the deaths. Local MLA Malladi Vishnu of the Congress also visited the hospital.