Bhandara tragedy: Two of the 7 rescued babies discharged

Nagpur: With no more VIP visits expected now, the Bhandara district general hospital on Thursday discharged two babies out of the seven which survived the January 9 fire incident in its Sick Newborn Care Unit on the first floor. The mothers were allotted beds on the floor above in ward numbers 10 and 11.
Following the incident, the parents were reluctant to keep their babies at the hospital, which had shifted the infants to its family welfare section for the time being.In fact, some of the babies were to be discharged on January 9 itself but it got postponed after doctors got busy with damage control.
Parents then went on to allege that the hospital was forcibly holding their babies back to “show them off to VIPs”. Governor BS Koshyari was the latest to visit the hospital on Wednesday, while chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had come on Sunday. Several cabinet ministers, MLAs and politicians have also visited the hospital.
Dinesh Khandate, one of the parents, was in a dilemma as the hospital discharged one of his twin daughters but told him that the other baby had been kept back. Khandate said he lived 40km away from the hospital, and it would not be possible for him to bring the mother daily if needed. He is still at the hospital.
Meanwhile, the parents also complained that they had been dumped after the VIPs’ visit, and that the government and district administration had focused only on the parents of 10 babies which died in the incident. “We too have gone through similar trauma and mental harassment. In fact, after the incident, the hospital administration used us and our seven babies to wash its sins of being responsible for the death of 10 babies. We haven’t been offered any monetary aid,” they said.