Over 4,000 children under five died at Delhi's Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya since 2019: RTI data

New Delhi: More than 4,000 children aged below five have died due to different illnesses like sepsis, pneumonia and septic shock at the Delhi government-run Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya from 2019 till June this year, according to data obtained through an RTI. The highest number of these deaths were recorded in 2019 at 875, while the least number of fatalities were noted at 548 last year. Total 314 deaths were reported this year until June.

In 2020 and 2021, when the country grappled with multiple waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, the facility for children witnessed 866 and 626 deaths.

The data was shared with Amit Gupta, a Right to Information (RTI) activist, who had sought data on children fatalities reported at hospitals run by the Delhi government.

However, Gupta received data only from the Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya, which said 4,095 children under the age of five had died at the facility between 2019 and June this year.

In 2022, the fatalities recorded in the age cohort stood at 866 while in the subsequent year, the number declined to 548, the data revealed.

The hospital cited the top causes of these deaths as sepsis, pneumonia, septic shock, and septicemia, according to the RTI response.

Calls and messages to hospital authorities did not elicit any response.

Gupta, who filed the RTI in June, said, "I was reading about some cases of children's deaths, so I wanted to check the situation in the national capital. So, I filed the RTI. I wrote to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and the request was transferred."

"I eventually received the data only from Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya and am still waiting for responses from other hospitals. The data is shocking, especially considering that Delhi has one of the best healthcare infrastructure. We need to reduce these deaths."

Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya is a state-of-the-art super-specialty pediatric hospital run by the government.