Tension prevailed at the Government Hospital (GH) here on Saturday after a newborn baby died hours after the young mother died on Friday night.
The Virudhunagar police have registered a case of suspicious death after the woman’s father lodged a complaint of negligence on part of the hospital staff. The presence of a huge posse of police personnel prevented any untoward incident at the hospital.
Joint Director (Health Services) M. Kathiresan said that the family had admitted V. Kanimozhi (23), a native of V. Ammapatti near Kallupatti, at Virudhunagar District Headquarters hospital despite being advised to admit her at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai.
“The woman, who had come for her second delivery, was advised to get advanced treatment at the GRH as she was diagnosed with pregnancy-induced hypertension,” Dr. Kathiresan said. The family members had ignored the instruction but admitted her at Virudhunagar GH on January 1.
When the doctors found that the woman had ‘breech presentation’ and also had lesser fluid, the patient was advised to go for Caesarean section. But, initially they refused as her first delivery was normal, he said.
However, after the Caesarean section at noon on Friday, the patient had a fall in blood pressure and also suffered breathlessness. Despite the best efforts of the medical staff, she died at 9 p.m. At 5.50 a.m. on Saturday, the newborn, a baby boy, died due to multiple congenital anomalies after being treated at the neonatal intensive care unit.
A thorough enquiry would be conducted into the circumstances that led to the death of the mother and new born, the joint director said.
Both the bodies were handed over to the family after a post-mortem.
