Two women died after undergoing c-section surgeries in government hospitals on Saturday, on the heels of three women who met with similar fate after giving birth on the operation table just a day before.
According to official sources, Ratnamala of Mahbubnagar, succumbed at Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj after delivering a healthy child on Saturday morning. Doctors said she had a convulsion and her vitals dropped even as hospital staff tried to resuscitate her. The late-afternoon death left the health administration shocked as the woman was not a high-risk case like the others who succumbed over the last two days.
“Other cases were high-risk pregnancies but Ratnamala’s death was not expected though she had delivered a child through c-section for the third time,” a health official informed.
Following the death, relatives of the family created unrest at the hospital, warranting police’s presence to pacify enraged relatives.
The second death happened earlier in the day. Twenty-year-old Archana succumbed at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) after she was rushed from a private hospital. On Thursday, Archana was one of the four women whose condition worsened after delivering a child through caesarean. According to government health officials, she was moved to a private hospital against advice of her doctors at Government Maternity Hospital Sultan Bazar, where she was operated.
Two other women who were operated at Sultan Bazar Maternity Hospital on Thursday, died on Friday. One of them succumbed at OGH where she was shifted in a serious condition, while the other woman died while being shifted to OGH, where critical care facilities are available.
“These cases were high-risk pregnancies. One of them had haemoglobin level of two units when it should at least be 12. Most pregnancies we receive at government hospital are usually high-risk with little to none pre-natal care,” said a senior health official.
The Maternity Hospital in Sultan Bazar had suspended c-sections until Sunday. Families of patients who arrived for the procedure were being directed to either Niloufer Hospital or Government Hospital Petlaburj. The hospital was also witness to large crowds for the second day due to the attention maternal deaths had gathered.
Alarmed by five deaths in two days, senior health officials on Saturday met Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare to address the situation. It was learnt that the commissioner was told about apprehension among government hospital staff in dealing with high-risk cases given the deaths and criticism the government is facing. The commissioner, it was learnt, suggested bolstering the hospitals with more staff and to improve communication between hospitals at various levels.
-EOM
