While Kashmir is in the middle of a political crisis, newborn babies are dying in its top tertiary-care hospital, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), because of a lack of basic infrastructure. According to an internal report, 17 newborn babies died in the hospital's paediatric surgery department between March 3 and May 1 this year, leading to an internal probe.

These facts first surfaced when Dr Nisar Ahmad Bhat, assistant professor, paediatric surgery department wrote a letter to the hospital's director Dr Abdul Hameed Zargar. "The department has seen 13 deaths over the last month and a half alone. Mortality at this pace is a matter of concern for all of us," the letter said. "Most of these deaths could have been avoided with the availability of basic infrastructure and better support from the concerned specialties."

Bhat also asked the hospital administration to investigate the deaths of each of these babies "so as to avoid such eventualities in future". A copy of this letter was also sent to SKIMS's medical superintendent and the heads of almost all the departments. The paediatric surgery department does not even have basic equipment like ventilators, incubators and infusion pumps. "Whenever we operate upon newborn babies, they need respiratory support but there are no ventilators. This is basic," a doctor in the ward said. "An incubator is essential. In fact, we would need a transport incubator as well. But we are forced to keep these babies under radiant heaters to keep them warm. This is all a mess."

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