In a startling reflection of the condition of maternal health in Bengaluru, the State-run Vani Vilas Hospital for Women and Children recorded the death of eight women, who had delivered babies through lower segmental caesarean section (LSCS), in a span of just 10 days.
The 536-bed tertiary care facility for women and children has never recorded more than six deaths in a month in the past. However, from November 7 to November 17 alone, eight women have lost their lives, unprecedented in the hospital, according to insiders.
All the eight women – aged between 20 years and 28 years – had undergone the C-section surgery in the Emergency OT located near the Music Therapy centre on the ground floor. Although hospital authorities attribute the deaths to septic shock, post-partum haemorrhage and pulmonary embolism, there are allegations of negligence on the part of doctors.
In a bid to investigate the deaths and suspecting that an infection could have spread from the Operation Theatre (OT), the hospital has shut the Emergency OT and is using the Elective OT on the third floor for all surgeries.
What is more, the Medical Superintendent Gangadhar Belavadi on November 21 issued a circular to the staff to withdraw the existing stock of Oxytocin 1ml injections (of two batches – A 15206 and A 15205 manufactured by M/S Bio Chem) and send it back to the Karnataka State Drugs and Logistics Society. “The analysis is that the stock of the injection (which produces uterine contractions during the third stage of labour and controls postpartum bleeding or haemorrhage) may not have been effective. Fresh stock purchased from outside is now being used,” the sources said.
Nearly 1,500 deliveries take place in this hospital every month.
The Hindu ’s team visited the hospital on Monday and was told that the OT had been closed since Thursday (November 19) for ‘renovation’ and ‘fumigation’. The last death was recorded on November 17.
Sources pointed out that the deaths had increased after Ayudha Pooja festivities, indicating that the infection could have occurred after equipment in the OT had been opened during the festival.
When contacted, Dr. Belavadi first said he would respond to our questions within two hours, but later did not receive our calls. Hospital Resident Medical Officer Kamalakshi said such deaths in a tertiary care hospital are “not unusual”.
Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash R. Patil has ordered a comprehensive death audit report and analysis of what could have led to the deaths.
The deaths
November 7, 9 pm: Naseema (20) |
November 8, 12.30 am: Shashikala (23) |
November 8, 9 am: Sheela (25) |
November 8, 8 pm: Sumera Banu (22) |
November 9, 8 am: Nand (28) |
November 10, 9.30 am: C. Rekha (22) |
November 13, 8.30 am: Reshma Banu (21) |
November 17, 1.35 pm: Mubeena (21) |
