Woman, baby die at Primary Health Centre, family blames ‘negligent’ doctor: West Godavari
ELURU: A 21-year-old pregnant woman and her infant died at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) due to the alleged negligence of a medical officer and staff of the Institute at Dharmajigudem village in Lingapalem mandal of West Godavari district on Sunday morning. Irate villagers and relatives of the woman rushed to the PHC and sat on a dharna on the busy Chintalapudi-Eluru road resulting in the disruption of vehicular traffic.
Devarapalli Vighneswari, a resident of Sundararaopeta of Mathamgudem Panchayat in Lingapalem mandal, was admitted to the PHC of for delivery. On Sunday morning, she had labour pains and doctor Moses Vinay, staff nurse Venkata Kanaka Durga and others attended to her. The family of the deceased allege that she died as the medical staff did not take proper care of her.
The victim’s husband Devarakonda Tambi had an argument with the doctor who allegedly left when the victim died. Vighneswari’s relatives demanded immediate action against the negligent officials and staff. The Mandal Tahsildar and police arrived at the spot in the afternoon and tried to pacify agitating villagers, but they continued their protest and staged a rasta roko at Eluru-Chintalapudi Road demanding stern against the staff concerned.
On being informed of the incident, Chintalapudi MLA and former Minister Peethala Sujatha contacted District Collector K Bhaskar and SP M Raviprakash and asked them to take necessary action to pacify the agitators.
Following this, the Collector directed District Medical and Health Officer P Koteswari to look into the matter. The District Medical and Health officer sent Additional DMHO Suresh Babu to the village. Babu assured the family members that doctor Moses would be suspended and action would be initiated against other erring staff, after which the villagers and family members of the victim withdrew their agitation.