The Bandh in Burla that was enforced by a local unit of Congress on Monday froze the normal life. The bandh was imposed by the Congress unit protesting over the death of nine infants within 24 hours in VSS Medical College and Hospital. All the commercial establishments except for medical stores remained closed. Even the various educational institutes of Burla, which is the epicenter of education in western Odisha, suffered as they remained shut.
The BJP leader, Srimantini Jena stated, “Despite the huge funds that were spent on for improving the hospital facilities in medical colleges, poor medical services still continue to trouble patients. It is not acceptable as to how nine children died in a span of 24 hours. The minister must take his responsibility of death of infants and sign for resignation”.
However the hospital sources said that out of the nine deaths, five of the infants had birth asphyxia while two had very low birth weight. The record of these deaths was kept in Special New Born Unit of VSS Medical Hospital.
Workers of the local unit of Congress demanded judicial enquiry into the deaths of infants. BJP workers said that it was a shocking incident as to how nine infants died one after one in a state hospital while the government had no accountability whatsoever towards the poorest of the poor.
