Three children, aged between nine and 13 months, died at two hospitals in Kolkata between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon after suffering from viral infections.
One of the kids was from North 24-Parganas district and another was from Nadia district.
Two children, who were running a temperature and suffering from breathing problems, died at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences.
The third child, who was suffering from pneumonia, died at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital.
Doctors at the BC Roy hospital said every day they were getting sick children from districts who could have been treated at the healthcare facilities closer home.
The condition of many such children was turning critical because of the shift, strain of travelling and the delay in treatment, the doctors said.
Lack of faith among many parents in local healthcare facilities and the alleged reluctance of doctors at those places to give extra effort are prompting such shifts, health department officials said.
The viral surge sweeping across parts of the state for several weeks has claimed the lives of a number of children. The common symptoms of the current spell of infections, which are mostly affecting children, are fever, cough and cold. A few children are suffering from breathing distress and pneumonia.
Among the three children who died between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, a nine-month-old from Phoolbagan passed away at the BC Roy hospital at 11.40pm on Wednesday.
The other nine-month-old who died at the Kankurgachhi hospital was from Rajarhat. The patient was in the neonatal intensive care unit of the hospital for over 20 days.
The third victim, from Phulia in Nadia, was aged around 13 months. The patient was referred to the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital from Krishnagar in Nadia on February 4.
Among the 60 inpatients at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences on Thursday, 20 were from North 24-Parganas and 27 from South 24-Parganas, officials said. Two were from Howrah.
“The families of only two of the patients from South 24-Parganas and seven from North 24-Parganas had referral documents that said the children had been referred to Dr BC Roy Institute,” said an official of the hospital.
“A family from Minakhan in North 24-Parganas reached the hospital on Wednesday with an ailing child after travelling around 45km by road because they felt they would get better treatment here,” the official said.
Another official of Dr BC Roy hospital said the condition of some of the children who were on ventilator support should not have turned critical had doctors at hospitals closer home intervened.
“The condition of these children would have been much better if they were given oxygen support in the initial days of the respiratory infections,” the official said. “Although many hospitals do not have paediatric ventilators, oxygen support can indeed be provided there.”
Transferring sick children from districts to Kolkata is another reason for the sharp deterioration in their condition, one doctor said.
“Sick children need to shift in a sophisticated way. The ambulances should have high-end equipment like ventilators. I am not sure how many children transferred to Kolkata’s hospital travelled in vehicles equipped with life-support system,” said Apurba Ghosh, director of Institute of Child Health, Kolkata.
“Also, ambulances take several hours by road to reach the city. They face traffic congestions. The long travel time and lack of proper life support result in the condition of the children turning critical.”
