VELLORE: A family from Ambur submitted a petition to collector VR Subbulaxmi on Monday seeking action against doctors and nurses at the Government Pentland Multi-Speciality Hospital, who allegedly failed to offer proper treatment to a pregnant woman, which ultimately landed her in the ICU of CMC Hospital.
Talking to TNIE, Sheeba Senthil, said her younger sibling Sneha G was admitted to Ambur Government Hospital with labour pain on October 21, from where she was shifted to the Pentland hospital due to lack of doctors.
“After examining my sister, doctors said a normal delivery was not possible and a cesarean had to be performed. The surgery was performed and a baby boy was born. On the second day after delivery, Sneha developed severe headache and neck pain. When we informed the doctor about this, she asked us to get a CT scan done. However, they did not do a scan or give any treatment for the headache,” Sheeba said.
On the night of October 25, when Sneha was called in to feed the baby kept in an incubator, Sheeba claimed that she also accompanied her sister. However, the nurse did not let Sheeba inside, she added. “After a short while, the doctors called me and said Sneha had fainted. I saw her lying unconscious on a stretcher,” Sheeba said.
Sneha was admitted to the ICU and put on ventilator support and the family was informed that a CT scan had to be done immediately as she was in a critical condition, Sheeba said. “However, the hospital did not have a CT scan facility or an ambulance with ventilator support,” Sheeba added.
The doctors referred Sneha to the CMC Hospital, adding that transporting her to Adukkamparai was risky. The CT scan done at CMC revealed that Sneha had sustained life-threatening brain haemorrhage, blood clots with increased pressure on the brain warranting an immediate surgery to stop the bleeding, Sheeba said. The doctors performed the emergency surgery, and Sneha continues to be in a critical condition in the ICU, Sheeba added.
Sneha’s husband Gokul wrote in the petition, “My wife, who went for delivery like any normal person is now fighting for her life solely because the doctors failed to provide proper and timely treatment and acted in a negligent manner.”
Only recently, it was reported that there was a staff crunch at the Pentland hospital and that same doctors from the obstetrics department in Adukkamparai GH were looking after patients at Pentland as no new appointments were made.
When TNIE contacted Dr Rohini Devi, dean of Adukkamparai GH and in-charge of the obstetrics department at the Pentland hospital, said the matter was with the collector and she could not disclose any details or comment.
Subbulaxmi was also unavailable for a comment.