Health officials ignore under-reporting of cases, negligence by field staff, ‘completes’ responsibility by serving notice to a city hospital
Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Tall claims of health department officials have fallen flat in pulling down the number of maternal deaths in Indore division. Moreover, instead of taking any action against negligence in cases of maternal deaths, health department officials ‘showed off’ their concern by reviewing some of the maternal deaths that took place in the last three months, on Wednesday.
Regional Director (Health) Dr RC Panika and officials of the division reviewed 54 cases of maternal deaths in the division including the highest number of cases that took place in Khandwa district i.e. 13 followed by Indore district i.e. 8.
The major reasons for maternal death were delay in seeking care and delay in getting adequate care in the health facility.
“Out of 8 cases of Indore district, three women died due to delay in receiving adequate care in facility which shows the negligence by the hospital staff while three women delayed in seeking care which showed the negligence on the part of field staff. Similarly, the issue of no/under-reporting of the cases as only 36 per cent of the probable cases in the division was reviewed,” a senior health official said.
Regional director Dr RC Panika too accepted under-reporting of the cases by hospitals but kept mum over taking action against them.
“Yes, it was found that the cases were underreported but the number is less. We only take the serious cases of maternal death for review and not all the deaths,” he said.
Notice To Mission Hospital For Negligence In Death
While reviewing the death of a 34-year-old Indore woman at Mission Hospital in April, the officials found negligence in providing adequate care to the patient which led to her death.
“It was an elderly primigravida case as the woman was 34 weeks pregnant. She was having severe jaundice which also caused intrauterine fetal demise. Her condition was also critical but hospital kept her admitted for seven days without having any facility to treat such cases following which the woman died,” the health official said adding “The officials have recommended strict action against the hospital.’
The Regional Director said that they are serving notice to the hospital and will take action after getting their reply.
21 Die During Pregnancy, 11 Die During Delivery, And 22 Post Delivery
Surprisingly, out of 54 deaths in the division, 21 women died during pregnancy while 11 died at the time of delivery. Similarly, 22 women died post delivery including 15 who died within 3-5 days of the delivery.
37 Women Die In Facilities, 14 During Transit
Out of 54 deaths, reviewed by the department, 37 women died in the health facilities due to various reasons including APH, PPH, and sepsis. Surprisingly, 15 women died during transit from home to hospital or between the hospitals.
