Even as questions were being raised in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha about the death of 34 infants in the paediatric ward of Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, senior paediatricians as well as the medical superintendent of the Hospital Dr R L Salhan were busy attending a seminar on the spread of HIV/AIDS.

"Dr Salhan is attending a seminar on HIV AIDS which is being webcast live from various countries," an official in the medical superintendent's office told rediff.com. All other senior doctors, including the head of the paediatric unit Dr M S Prasad, were also attending the seminar.

"Sir leave your phone number and we would call back," an official promised. No one called back.

Doctors working in other departments of the hospital chose not comment on the subject taking the plea that this was not related to their department. Others who spoke on the condition of anomymity blamed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and other private hospitals for sending "hopeless cases" to Safdarjung Hospital.

"Last week over 1100 children were admitted in the hospital. We cannot refuse admission. AIIMS normally refers hopeless cases to us. Out of 142, which died in a month, 114 died within forty eight hours of being admitted. This clearly shows that they were hopeless cases and could not have been saved even in the best of the private hospitals," said a senior doctor of the Safdarjung Hospital.

When rediff.com visited the paediatric ward (18,19,20 and 21) on Monday one could barely see a single doctor attending the children. "Yahan to sab Bhagwan bharose hai (everything here is on the mercy of god)," said father of a child patient as he carried his child in his arms.

His child was denied admission on the plea that there beds were not available for the patients and all the wards were full.

On Saturday Dr Anbumani Ramadoss made a surprise visit to the hospital and found that paediatric ward lacked basic necessities like an ICU, an Operation theatre of its own, ventilators and portable X-Ray machines.

Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP member of Lok Sabha from South Delhi, said, "I have written a letter to prime minister and health minister. I would take up this issue with all seriousness. I have raised it twice in Parliament already and I would do so during the question hour during this week," Malhotra told rediff.com.