Parents and relatives of a baby boy protested at the Primary Health Care PHC) centre in Sumaithangi village near Walajah town in Ranipet on Saturday after the infant died in the centre early in the day.
Police said that S. Ravikumar, 28, a mason in Kannigapuram village, admitted his pregnant wife, R. Chandrika, 21, at the centre and gave birth to a boy on June 28. On Saturday around 2 a.m., she gave milk to the infant in the ward. Two hours later when she got up, she found the boy still. Immediately, she alerted the duty staff at the centre. After screening the baby, doctors said that the boy had died, police said.
Ravikumar and his relatives rushed to the centre and argued with the duty staff. Kaveripakkam police arrived and pacified the agitated parents and relatives. Doctors explained to the parents that the boy died due to milk aspiration, possibly because of not holding the baby in the proper upright position. Later, the parents received the body.
“As the baby was her first child, the young mother was not aware of the initial complications that a newborn would face. We told the reason for the death of the baby to the parents,” D. Manimaran, Deputy Director of Health Services (DDHS), Ranipet, told The Hindu.
