Gandhinagar, Mar 24 (IANS): Despite having one of the best healthcare facilities and infrastructure, the Vijay Rupani-led government has disclosed before the state assembly that more than 18 newborns died everyday within hours of their birth in Gujarat in the past two years.

However, there was not a single death of newborns reported from Devbhumi Dwarka, Botad, Anand, Aravalli and Mahisagar districts in the same period.

Answering a series of written questions put up by Congress legislators, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel who also holds the health portfolio, informed the House that a total of 13,496 newborn babies out of the total 1,06,017 admitted in the Sick Newborn Care Units in government hospitals across the state, died during 2019 and 2020. This meant that on an average over 18 infants died in these units.

The Congress legislators had asked as to how many children were admitted in the Sick Newborn Care Units in these two years, and also how many were from government as well as from private hospitals.

Out of the total newborn admitted in the Sick Newborn Care units, a total of 69,314 were transferred from government hospitals, while 38,561 (36.37 per cent) from private hospitals.

Out of the total newborns admitted in Panchmahal district, almost 79 per cent were shifted from private hospitals. Out of the total 1,892 infants admitted in Panchmahals, 1,493 were admitted from private hospitals, while the rest 399 where from government setups.

In Rajkot, the native place of the Gujarat Chief Minister Rupani, maximum number of deaths of newborns occurred -- around 18 per cent newborns died. Out of the total 10,623 newborns admitted in Rajkot, 1,834 had died.