Two women die after delivery at Malakpet hospital in Telangana, docs blamed

Heavy police bandobast was made at the hospital to prevent any untoward incident. The police whisked away the protesting members of Dalit organisations.
Relatives and family members of the two deceased women cry outside MN Area Hospital at Malakpet in Hyderabad  on Friday
Relatives and family members of the two deceased women cry outside MN Area Hospital at Malakpet in Hyderabad on Friday

HYDERABAD: The death of two women after delivering babies through the C-section at MN Area Hospital in Malakpet triggered a protest at the hospital on Friday by the relatives and Dalit organisations, alleging negligence of doctors. The two women, Sirivennela and Tanneru Shivani delivered babies in the hospital on Wednesday. They were later shifted to Gandhi Hospital after they developed complications on Thursday. They died late in the night. Demanding justice, the families of the deceased women protested at M N Area Hospital.

Heavy police bandobast was made at the hospital to prevent any untoward incident. The police whisked away the protesting members of Dalit organisations. While Sirivennela’s husband Mahesh is a driver, Shivani’s husband Jagdish works as a software engineer in the city.

However, the hospital authorities denied any negligence on their part. “Dr Sunitha, the District Coordinator of Hospital Services (DCHS) of Hyderabad conducted a preliminary inquiry. She has gone through all the records and details and found no negligence on the part of the doctors,” said Dr Shyam Trilok, superintendent of M N Area Hospital. He confirmed that other eight women who underwent caesarean deliveries on Thursday have been admitted to Nizam’s Institute of Medical Science (NIMS) as part of precautionary measure.

“The condition of the women was not good when they were shifted to the hospital. One of them died after three hours and the other after five hours,” said Dr M Raja Rao, superintendent of Gandhi Hospital.The doctors spared no effort, including consulting cardiologists, gynaecologists, anaesthetists to save their lives. But the efforts failed as the women suffered multi-organ failure, clarified Dr Raja Rao.

According to him, Sirivennela had a low count of platelets, pointing to the possibility of her being infected with dengue fever, while Shivani had metabolic acidosis and hypothyroidism.“The cause of the deaths is being evaluated. One thing for sure is that it was not a case of infection. The infection will not kill a person overnight,” Dr Raja Rao said. The post-mortem would reveal the cause of the death of the women, he said.

Meanwhile, Dr J Ajay Kumar, Commissioner of Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad, announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each for the families of the deceased women. Hyderabad District Collector Amoy Kumar also announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each for the next of kin of the deceased women. An expert committee has been set up to investigate the issue.

“My daughter died and my newborn granddaughter is undergoing treatment for jaundice in another hospital. I demand justice for both of them,” said Jyothi, the mother of 21-year-old Sirivennela of Chedurpalli village in Nagarkurnool. “What will happen to the newborn baby girl?” she asked fighting back her tears. Tanneru Shivani’s husband Jagdish, who lives in Saifaba, shared the same fears about his two-day-old baby boy.

According to Jyoti, Sirivennela was admitted to MN Area Hospital on Tuesday and some injection was administered to her to prepare her for the C-section surgery. However it was postponed for a day by the doctors, saying that there were too many cases to handle. Sirivennela was again administered another injection the next day.

The family members alleged that despite informing doctors and medical staff multiple times that the health of the two women was worsening after the surgery, the medical staff ignored it and later shifted the women to  Gandhi Hospital. According to a source in M N Area Hospital, four normal deliveries and 11 C-sections were performed in a single day on Thursday.This is the third incident of women dying in the State in the last six months.

Cases registered,say police

Two cases have been registered under Section 174 of CrPC in connection with the death of the two women at the Malakpet Area Hospital. Police said they would alter the section if the post-mortem report pointed to any medical negligence for the death of the women

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