SRINAGAR: The death of 400 infants since January this year has sent shock waves through the Himalayan Muslim majority Kashmir Valley already reeling under two decade old separatist violence.

The government admitted to the deaths at the G.B.Pant hospital setting off a social, political and administrative commotion.

Confirming the tally of mortalities in the hospital, the minister for medical education, R.S.Chib ordered a high level enquiry into the causes of the deaths.

The one-man enquiry headed by the director of the prestigious Soura medical institute, Dr. Showkat Zargar blamed “the capacity deficiency on many fronts for the deaths” in his preliminary report submitted to the government yesterday. The areas include manpower, equipment and overall management of the services of the hospital, which caters for infant care to the whole of the valley.

Following the interim report, the state government attached the head of department and hospital medical superintendent, Dr. Javed Chowdhary and ordered the dispatch of extra staff and equipment. The state health commissioner, M.K.Dwivedi said at a press conference: “Immediate steps have been initiated to augment manpower especially the paramedics and about 40 nurses and other staff will be posted for neonatology.”

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah reiterated this evening the government’s firm determination to improve and upgrade the functioning of the hospital adding that necessary measures have already been initiated in this direction and that the impact of these is likely to be visible within a week’s time.

A prominent physician said that it was an overcrowded hospital where sometimes four patients share the same bed adding that it was Kashmir’s poor who could not afford expensive treatment at private hospitals and who had to take the infants to this hospital for treatment.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seized the opportunity to embarrass the coalition government headed by Omar Abdullah by seeking direct intervention of the Prime Minister ‘to take note of the serious development that has affected hundreds of families in Kashmir’.

Engineer Abdul Rashid, the independent MLA from north Kashmir held a demonstration outside the hospital located in the cantonment area to ventilate his anger at the deaths.