Doctors rush to India town where 100 children died in hospital

India’s health ministry has rushed a team of pediatricians and other medical experts to a western Indian town where more than 100 children have reportedly died in a government-run hospital in the past month.

India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday said the experts will analyse clinical protocols, service delivery, manpower availability and equipment for maternal, newborn and pediatric care services at the Kota Medical College hospital in Rajasthan state.

The state government said there was no negligence on the part of doctors as most of the children who died were referral cases reaching the hospital in the town of Kota from distant villages, including newly born children suffering from low birth weight, premature deliveries and nascent infections.

State Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said in a tweet that the state health department was providing the best facilities in the hospital, which is nearly 400km (250 miles) southwest of New Delhi.