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Haryana human rights panel orders review of neonatal care over newborn’s death in Hisar
The commission has sought detailed reports from six authorities, including the additional chief secretary (health), director general health services (DGHS), civil surgeon, Hisar, directors of PGIMS Rohtak and Maharaja Agrasen Medical College (MAMC), Agroha, and the District Medical Negligence Board, Hisar
The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) has ordered a review of the state’s neonatal emergency care system on Tuesday, following the reported death of a newborn in Hisar on July 1 due to a lack of ventilator support for nearly 24 hours despite the infant being taken to three hospitals across Hisar and Rohtak districts. The HHRC’s July 7, order, came a day after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo-moto cognisance of the matter on July 6.
The commission has sought detailed reports from six authorities, including the additional chief secretary (health), director general health services (DGHS), civil surgeon, Hisar, directors of PGIMS Rohtak and Maharaja Agrasen Medical College (MAMC), Agroha, and the District Medical Negligence Board, Hisar. The order mentioned that the reports should be filed before the next hearing on September 1.
Calling the allegations a matter of “Grave public importance”, the commission observed that the incident points to possible systemic failures in Haryana’s public healthcare system, including inadequate critical care infrastructure, poor inter-hospital coordination and deficiencies in emergency referral management.
The action follows media reports that a baby born at Hisar civil hospital developed severe respiratory distress shortly after birth and required immediate ventilator support. Since the hospital’s only neonatal ventilator was reportedly occupied, the infant was referred first to MAMC Agroha and then to PGIMS Rohtak, where ventilators were also reportedly unavailable. The family eventually shifted the baby to a private hospital in Hisar, where the newborn was declared dead on arrival after nearly 24 hours spent travelling between hospitals.
HHRC noted that a preliminary inquiry by the health department had reportedly pointed to a communication gap in locating an available ventilator. If established, it said, such findings would reveal serious deficiencies in emergency response, referral management and coordination among government hospitals.
The order also mentions reports revealing that the civil hospital, Hisar, allegedly had only one neonatal ventilator, which was already occupied, while a proposal to install another ventilator had not yet been sanctioned. It further referred to reports claiming that although nearly 40 ventilators were available in the hospital, about 25 were lying unused in storage and another 13 had become non-functional due to technical faults. Several ventilators supplied during the Covid-19 pandemic were also reported to be either unused or awaiting repairs.
Questioning the referral process, the commission stressed that referral decisions for critically ill patients must be based on confirmed availability of ICU beds, NICU beds and ventilators rather than assumptions.
Among the key directions, the additional chief secretary (health) has been asked to submit the state’s emergency neonatal referral policy, district-wise details of NICUs and neonatal ventilators, measures taken after the incident and whether Haryana has any real-time system to monitor ICU, NICU and ventilator availability across government hospitals. If such a mechanism does not exist, the government has been asked to provide a timeline for implementing one, reads the order.
On July 6, NHRC had taken suo moto cognisance of the incident and issued a notice to the Haryana chief secretary, seeking a detailed report on the incident within two weeks.
