A devastated mother has revealed how her newborn baby died just ten-days-old after being bitten by rats in hospital.
Shocking pictures emerged of the child at the Guntur Government Hospital in Andhra Pradesh, south east India, who was being treated for a urinary tract problem.
After being operated on at the hospital, the boy was recovering in the intensive care unit when his horrified parents discovered the newborn covered in bites.
Heartbroken mum Lakshmi Chavali alerted staff to the bites, with the child even nursing a bite wound on his eye.
Mrs Chavali said: "Our son was about to undergo surgery but we noticed wounds on his right hand on Wednesday.
"Rats had nibbled them [the child's fingers] off.
"My son was not killed by the rats but by doctors and staff at GGH. We suspected the danger a week ago. They were not bothered as they did not take us seriously."
The child's dad, Naga Chavali, confirmed that his son died because of the rat bites.
Minister for Health Kamineni Srinivas said the government has terminated the contract with the sanitation contractor and ordered an inquiry into the incident, demanding reports from the police within a week.
Mr Srinivas added the government would not tolerate any negligence.
Three health officials have been suspended over the incident.
The Superintendent of Guntur Hospital, Dr Venugopala Rao, confirmed that left over food on the premises was responsible for the rat infestation and that they had entered the hospital through air conditioning ducts.
He said: "It’s an unfortunate incident.
"We set up a rat mesh in [the hospital] soon after receiving complaints about the movement of killer rats. We did not expect that it will take this turn."
Dr Rao added that action would be taken on the staff, including one doctor on duty at the time.
