Newborn dies in Chittoor after nurses perform surgery

High drama at hospital as relatives stage protest alleging negligence of staff

Hospital officials and police conducting an inquiry into the death of a newborn at Government Headquarters District Hospital in Chittoor on Thursday.

Tension prevailed on the District Headquarters General Hospital premises here on Thursday, after relatives and villagers staged a protest following the death of a newborn, allegedly due to the negligence of medical and paramedical staff.

According to information, Banumathi (30) of Agraharam hamlet near Penumuru mandal headquarters, 25 km from here, was admitted to the maternity ward of the hospital on Wednesday afternoon after she developed labour pain. In the evening, the woman complained of breathlessness and acute pain.

Her husband, Varadarajulu, reportedly informed the paramedical staff on duty about her condition, but in vain. Accompanied by friends and relatives, he reportedly tried to contact the duty doctors at the maternity ward from evening till early hours of Thursday, as they were not available at the ward and operation theatre. Efforts to reach the doctors at their residences in the town also went futile.

In the early hours of Thursday, duty nurses took the woman into the operation theater.

Though a male baby was born, it died after an hour, reportedly following a surgical procedure conducted by paramedical staff in the absence of duty medical officers. The mother is safe, but in a state of shock.

Enraged at the alleged negligence and absence from the wards, the woman’s husband along with relatives and villagers staged a protest holding the body of the newborn. As the protest turned unruly, the Chittoor II town police rushed to the spot, and pacified the mob, saying that justice would be provided to the aggrieved parents, and an inquiry would be conducted into the alleged dereliction of duty on the part of medical officers and nurses.

Varadarajulu complained that his desperate attempts to contact the doctors since Wednesday afternoon failed. “My wife became pregnant five years after our marriage. Our happiness is short-lived and fate is cruel to us through the negligence of hospital staff,” he deplored.

Speaking to The Hindu , the District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS) Saralamma said the delivery was conducted by the paramedical staff, and the doctors concerned were not available when the woman’s husband and relatives tried to contact them.

“Preliminary information is that the nurses made a bid to remove a swollen part on the baby’s navel. An inquiry has been ordered,” the official said.