A 23-year-old woman undergoing fertility treatment in a clinic at Kodambakkam died a few hours after being administered anaesthesia on Saturday.
The relatives squarely blamed the untimely death of the woman on negligence of doctors, and said the hospital concealed the death for up to three hours.
Kodambakkam police, which registered a case of suspicious death, said they were waiting for the autopsy report before drawing any conclusions.
Harinaatchi, wife of Jaiganesh and a resident of Selaiyur, had been visiting the Garbbarakshambigai Fertility Centre for the last few months for fertility treatment. A BE graduate, Harinaatchi married Jaiganesh, who worked as a deputy manager in a car showroom. “On Saturday, she visited the hospital along with her mother and doctors said they have to conduct a test for IVF treatment. Since the test would be painful, they administered anaesthesia around 3 pm. Soon after this, Harinaatchi lost consciousness. The doctors kept her mother in dark for several hours saying that she was ill and had asked her to procure some medicines from pharmacies,” said Raj Kumar, a family friend.
Around 6 pm, doctors told Harinaatchi’s mother that she had fallen ill and referred her to a nearby private multi-specialty hospital. “We were shocked when the doctors said that she had died about three hours ago. When we again rushed to the clinic to question them, most of the doctors had left the premises and all the staff were not answering our questions,” said Nathan, a relative of the deceased.
The hospital had already informed about the incident to police and as the angry relatives gathered at the clinic premises on Saturday night, police personnel were posted for security. After repeated demands of Harinaatchi’s relatives, Kodambakkam police registered a case of suspicious death. Police sent the body for autopsy to a government hospital.
On Sunday morning, a large number of relatives assembled at the Royapettah Government Hospital, where the body was kept and demanded the arrest of the doctors responsible for the death. Revenue officials pacified the relatives and assured that an RDO enquiry would also be ordered into the death and necessary action would be taken on the doctors if their negligence was found to be the reason for the death.
Police said the autopsy report is expected in a few weeks, after which a conclusion could be arrived at.
The hospital management and doctors could not be reached for comments. Even after repeated calls to the hospital, the staff refused to connect to a spokesperson or officials of the hospital, saying none of them were present and that no alternative contact numbers of any of the management officials or doctors were available.