BJP demands white paper on death of 11 infants in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: BJP Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan today demanded a ' white paper' on the deaths of 11 infants at Dharmapuri Government Medical College Hospital and the resignation of the Health Minister.

"We cannot accept the claim of Chief Minister O Panneerselvam that the deaths were due to natural causes. This cannot be brushed aside," she told reporters here.

Yesterday, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said the deaths were due to "natural" causes and not "due to medical negligence."

"Very young age of mothers, short interval between the pregnancies, low birth weight and pre-term delivery are the reasons for the death of 11 babies," he had said.

The BJP chief slammed the Health Minister C Vijayabaskar for visiting the hospital four days after the incident.

On November 14, five infants died at the Neonatal Intensive Care unit and the figure rose to 11 on November 17.

Demanding a 'white paper' and government intervention, she said: "This is not a problem of Dharmapuri alone. This is a problem of Tamil Nadu," adding, she would visit Dharmapuri tomorrow and hold talks with the people there.

She also alleged that "corruption was reigning in Tamil Nadu government, besides administrative deterioration."