Patiala woman dies after delivery in nursing home, probe ordered
Dr Hatinder Kaur, director, Punjab health department, says the Patiala civil surgeon has been asked to submit a preliminary report within 48 hours.
A 31-year-old woman died shortly after delivery, conducted reportedly by a BAMS (bachelor of ayurvedic medicine and surgery) doctor at a private nursing home, in Patiala on Thursday night, prompting the Punjab health department to order a probe. The victim’s family has blamed the Rajan Nursing Home for “negligence”.
In the government sector, no doctor with less than an MBBS degree holder conducts a normal delivery at primary health centres. In secondary and tertiary care in government institutes, the delivery is conducted by gynaecologists.
Dr Hatinder Kaur, director, Punjab health department, said the Patiala civil surgeon had been asked to submit a preliminary report within 48 hours.
Dr Kiran (BAMS) of the Rajan Nursing Home said, “After the delivery, the woman started bleeding. We tried to manage but the patient kept bleeding so we referred her to Rajindra Hospital.” She died moments after being admitted there.
The postmortem examination has already been conducted at the Government Rajindra Hospital, but doctors refused to share the report details. The HT, however, has learned that the woman died of traumatic postpartum haemorrhage.
Krishan Singh, husband of the deceased, said, “My wife died because of negligence. I want justice.”
This is the second death in Rajan Nursing Home in two months. In April, a pregnant woman died there after she fell from the labour table before the delivery. In that case, the health department hadn’t initiated action.
Patiala civil surgeon Dr Sanjay Goyal, when asked about the occurrences of alleged cases of negligence leading to maternal deaths, said he was not aware of the incidents but would look into it.
While talking to HT, Dr Bhagwant, member of the Punjab Medical Council, said, “Obstetrics is a very complicated science. Identifying and timely management of fallouts and complications during the delivery is the domain of gynaecologists. If you fail in this, you are deficient in your services. This shows that they lack expertise in obstetrics and health facilities. The government should take remedial measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.”
As per the health department, 14 maternal deaths were reported in Punjab in April. Alarmingly, the monthly death count increased to 28 in May.
