The infants were rescued from the fire at the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College in Jhansi and moved to safety; their identification took time as the tags with details of parents went missing
Kripa Ram Yadav must have been a very happy man on November 7 when his wife, who was in labour for more than five hours, gave birth to their son at the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College and Hospital in Jhansi. The baby was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit after minor seizures.
A resident of Bamer village in Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Yadav had his happiness cut short as his wife, Shanti Yadav, who was dealing with mental illness, went missing from the hospital on November 14. Already troubled by this, he was given another jolt by the fire at the NICU the next day as his son went missing in the chaos.
The fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit on an extension board, claimed the lives of 10 infants admitted in the NICU, while 39 babies were rescued by their relatives and hospital staff.
In a short span of time, the fire and smoke had blocked the main entrance to the NICU, leaving only two windows to rescue the children, many witnesses said, adding that the unit was in three sections and it had become difficult to save those in the inner two sections.
“It was a stampede-like situation there. Nobody was able to enter through the door. So, some people just broke the two windows to enter the room. They and the staff already inside just started handing over the children to people standing outside. Nobody cared who was carrying whose child. Everyone just wanted to take them to safety,” Mr. Yadav, who was among those left emptyhanded, said.
With his world turning upside down in just eight days, Mr. Yadav, for the next two days, went around every ward of the hospital, and several private hospitals and nursing homes, where rescued children had been moved, requesting many officials to help find his baby and his wife.
Doctors and other parents say the confusion was caused because it was very difficult to identify the infants without their tags, with details such as their parents’ names, measurements, and weight.
It was only on Sunday evening that Mr. Yadav was reunited with his child, who had been rescued by another woman and taken to a private hospital.
Mahendra Singh and Lakshmi Singh’s son was also rescued and moved to the paediatric ICU (PICU) of the Maharani Laxmibai Medical College. During the rescue efforts, Ms. Lakshmi said, she had been handed two male children.
“One boy had a tag of his parents’ names and other details so I gave him to a nurse, while I thought that the other one was mine. My husband and I took him and admitted him to a private hospital,” she said, after being reunited with her own child.
Hospital staff and officials reached out to her after nobody came to enquire about their child being treated at the PICU. Accompanied by officials, when Mr. Yadav reached the Mithila Mahesh Child Care Hospital, his sister Sheel Kumari recognised his child.
“We took him because we believed he was our son,” Mr. Mahendra said.
Ramvir Singh, Circle Officer, City, Jhansi Police, who helped find Mr. Yadav’s child, told The Hindu that efforts were on to trace Mr. Yadav’s wife.