Nurses play doctor in Pathankot, newborn dies

The district police on Sunday booked two staff nurses and a Class-4 employee of the community health centre (CHC), Badhani, 14 km from the district headquarters, after a newborn child died at the health facility due to alleged negligence of the staff.

The Pathankot civil surgeon, under whose jurisdiction the health centre falls, defended the staff nurses.

The newborn child’s parents, Monika and Lekh Raj, alleged that staff nurses Mandeep Kaur and Kamaldeep Kaur and Class 4 employee Rama insisted on getting the delivery done on their own.

Lekh Raj said when his wife started experiencing labour pains on Saturday night, the staff nurses instead of calling the doctor tried to assist alone. “They asked us to rush the newborn to a child specialist in Pathankot, where he was declared brought dead,” he said. A case was registered.