TIRUPATTUR: A 26-year-old woman from Ambur, who delivered a girl on Sunday, died on Wednesday night allegedly due to medical negligence at the Ambur Government Hospital. The newborn also passed away hours later on Thursday around noon.
On Thursday morning, the woman’s relatives blocked the Ambur-Pernambut road, alleging that the hospital staff had not provided adequate care. According to her relatives, V Durga Devi, a resident of L Manguppam in Devanapuram panchayat, had conceived after five years of marriage to D Vijay.
Durga met Dr Shyamala for regular check-ups at Ambur Government Hospital, according to R Rajesh, Vijay’s cousin.
“Durga was taken to Ambur hospital for delivery on Sunday around 8am. When her water broke at 10am, Durga’s parents rushed to inform the nurses who were having food. But they said it was okay and asked them to wait. The nurses came an hour later and helped deliver the baby, but there was excessive bleeding. Only around 3pm did they casually refer her to Tirupattur Government Hospital,” he added.
“Both mother and child were taken to Tirupattur GH, where the doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding either. The baby was transported in an incubator. Durga was then referred to nearby Dharmapuri GH, where doctors told us her uterus had to be removed to stop the bleeding. Even after removing her uterus, the bleeding continued,” Rajesh added.
“We were then referred to Salem GH, but by then it was too late. She died around 9pm on Wednesday,” he said. The child died at Dharmapuri GH around 12 noon.
Joint director of health services (Tirupattur) Dr Kannagi confirmed that Durga died of postpartum hemorrhage and an inquiry is under way.
When asked about the allegations of negligence, Ambur medical officer Dr TC Yogesh said, “Every month we handle 80 to 90 deliveries. If there was negligence it would have come out. In the last seven years, this is the first case in which patient is dying because of postpartum hemorrhage.”