KALLAKURICHI: A private hospital in Chinnasalem was sealed after a 29-year-old woman, who was four months pregnant, died after undergoing an abortion at the hospital. According to sources, P Chandralekha (29) of Pandiyangkuppam near Chinnasalem, a mother of two girls decided to abort her foetus and got admitted to the private hospital in Chinnasalem a few days ago.
After the procedure, there was bleeding and she was referred to a hospital in Kallakurichi. Doctors there removed her uterus, but the bleeding did not stop and she was referred to yet another hospital in Salem. With no improvement in her condition till Monday, doctors at the Salem hospital asked the family to take her back to the hospital where she underwent the abortion.
The family brought her back to Chinnasalem in an ambulance and staged a protest on the Kallakurichi-Salem road, demanding she be given proper treatment. On information, Kallakurichi DSP Ziaul Haque and Chinnasalem Tahsildar Anandasayanan arrived on the spot and held talks with the protesters. After a four-hour protest, Chandralekha was admitted to the government hospital in Kallakurichi, where she died on Tuesday evening.
“Based on an official order we sealed the hospital on Tuesday and officials of the health department are conducting a probe into the incident,” said a senior revenue department official. Meanwhile, Chandralekha’s husband Perumal filed a complaint against the hospital management.
A police source from Chinnasalem station said, “Two different cases were filed against the hospital management and doctors, based on the complaint from Perumal and health department officials, for conducting abortion without proper permission. Further inquiry is on,” he said. A health department official said a proper enquiry will be conducted.