4-Day-Old Baby Battling For Life After Being Bitten By Rats Inside Incubator

A four-day-old infant girl was left battling for her life after she was allegedly attacked by rats while inside an incubator. The newborn was moved to the NICU after she developed breathing difficulties.

The shocking incident of medical negligence was reported at a government hospital in the Indian state of Jharkhand, as per The Times of India. The child, born Friday, was shifted to another hospital after the rodent attack worsened her condition.

According to the child's father Rajesh Singh, his wife Mamta Devi was admitted to the government facility in the town of Chaitadih a few days prior. She delivered the baby Friday, but the infant was taken to the NICU as she had trouble breathing.

However, the hospital staff approached the family Monday instructing they take the baby girl to a better medical facility. "Around 3 a.m. on Monday, the nurse working in the ward informed us that the baby has developed jaundice. The staff handed the baby to the parents by wrapping it in a cloth," Sakaldev Singh, a relative, told The Times of India.

Only after arriving at another medical centre did the family notice bandages on the child's feet, hands and head with stains of blood on it. The relatives went back to the hospital and questioned the medical staff, who confessed about the rodent attack.

"Everything happened in front of the hospital staff as the child was kept in the nearest incubator from the nurse’s desk. This is the height of negligence as rats nibbled the child’s body despite the fact that she was kept in the incubator nearly 4 feet above from the ground,” Rajesh Singh told The New Indian Express.

The family approached authorities regarding the negligence, following which a probe was ordered into the incident. Reports revealed that two medical staff and a cleaning worker were suspended from the service pending inquiry.

Recently, a newborn baby had died in a hospital in India after allegedly slipping from a nurse's arms and falling on the floor. However, the hospital authorities initally refused to reveal it to the parents, instead maintained that it was a stillbirth. However, an autopsy confirmed the baby died from a head injury.