HYDERABAD: Two pregnant women died at Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj on Wednesday morning. While one woman died 20 minutes after she was brought in late Tuesday night, another passed away one-and-a-half hours after arriving at the hospital on Wednesday. Doctors at the Maternity Hospital said both were referral cases of high-risk nature and there was little they could have done to prevent them.
Shabana Begum, a resident of Asif Nagar in the city, was referred to Petlaburj at 10 pm on Tuesday from Nampally Area Hospital. According to duty doctor, Shabana was suffering from seizures and her blood pressure was also way beyond normal. The doctors immediately put her on the ventilator to begin treatment, when she died.
Though there were reports of family members of the Shabana Begum, who died on Tuesday night, staging a protest outside the hospital alleging medical negligence, police clarified that no cases have been registered in the absence of a complaint.
Doctors said another woman Shahin, who also died at Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj on Wednesday morning, had come from Tandur Hospital in Vikarabad. She was gasping for breath upon reaching the hospital. “The baby was already dead inside the womb. She was brought in at 7 am on Wednesday and passed away 20 minutes after that,” the doctor said.On an average, Petlaburj Hospital receives more than 30 referral cases in a single day out of which at least 10 cases are high risk, according to doctors there.
Over a 100 patients get admitted when only 52 beds are available at the ante-natal ward. The number of patients has been rising after launch of KCR kits. Dr Nagamani, superintendent of the hospital, said there is a need to increase the number of wards and beds. Though 462 beds have been sanctioned to the hospital, requests for 200 more have been made, sources said.
13 maternal deaths this year
As many as 13 maternal deaths have been reported from Government Maternity Hospitals in city this year. And inquiry into first of such incident this year — death of five mothers between Jan 28 and Feb 4 — is yet to reach a logical conclusion. Five-member inquiry committee’s report forwarded by special chief secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Rajeshwar Tiwari to State Human Rights Commission on Oct 9 found “suspicion on questionable quality of drugs and sterile nature of intravenous fluids especially dextrose-containing solutions which might be the cause for maternal deaths at Niloufer Hospital from Jan 28 to Feb 4.” Even two months after submission of the report to SHRC, no probe has been launched.