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Bhubaneswar: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report has pulled up the Odisha government for failing to conduct review meetings at government medical colleges and hospitals to identify the cause of neonatal deaths in Odisha in the last three years.
As per the report tabled in the Odisha Assembly on Saturday, though the neonatal mortality rate (37 per thousand) of the State was the highest in the country, government medical colleges and hospitals had not conducted any review to identify the causes of deaths between 2013 and 2016.
There were 16,651 deaths of neonatal and paediatric patients in the test-checked government medical colleges and hospitals and district headquarter hospitals during 2013-16, the CAG said.
It said that the state government did not ensure the sitting of the committee at regular intervals.
The objective of the review is to analyze the circumstances which led to the death of a patient, to identify the reasons and to take remedial measures.
The committee was constituted in August 1984 to review the causes of death occurring in the government medical colleges, which was to meet regularly at least once a month and submit the proceedings to the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET).
The Odisha Health department in September 2013 had directed all clinical departments of all GMCH to conduct review once a month.
During 2013-16, 427 neonates out of 27,804 babies born in sampled hospitals, succumbed to infectious diseases like sepsis, pneumonia, etc.
According to the report, overcrowding of wards, unlimited entry of attendants and inadequate training to health personnel were the causes of infectious diseases.
