An organisation that had moved the National Human Rights Commission in connection with a newborn’s death at a government hospital in Chhattisgarh has welcomed the panel’s recent order in the case.

Over two years after the baby fell into a dustbin at the hospital and died, the human rights commission has asked the state government to pay her mother Rs 1 lakh in compensation, The Times of India reported on Sunday.

Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, which had filed a complaint before the NHRC, urged the government to take the “necessary corrective steps” and improve the quality of healthcare at all state-run facilities. The final order “reiterates the accountability of governments in such cases of denial of health rights”, the group said. The state should follow “appropriate standards and protocols [at hospitals], maintaining dignity and rights of patients”, it added.

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The government should also strengthen human resources for healthcare and set up a robust grievance redress system, the group said.

The incident had taken place on March 20, 2016, when a woman from a village in Bastar was brought to a hospital in Jagdalpur. She was asked to lie on a bed in the labour room, but the doctors and nurses allegedly left the room as she screamed out of labour pains. She soon gave birth to a baby girl who fell into a dustbin filled with medical waste. Doctors then allegedly asked her to clear the blood stains on the floor if she wanted them to save the newborn, reports said.

In its order in July, the NHRC had observed that the case showed a “gross violation of human rights of a woman going into labour”, according to The Times of India. The commission also said the suspension of the doctor who was on duty at the time was revoked in a few days, and the government must pay compensation to “give relief and generate faith” in the woman.

The NHRC had asked the government to submit a compliance report by August 19.