HC Seeks Details of Govt Spending on Rural Medical Facilities over Woman's Death

HYDERABAD: The division bench of the Telangana High Court, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar, on Wednesday, directed the Telangana government to furnish details of budgetary allocations for extending medical services, facilities and equipment to government hospitals in rural areas and districts.

The court directed the principal secretary of the medical, health and family welfare department to file a comprehensive affidavit report on the availability of doctors in government hospitals at district, taluk and village levels, including at primary health centres (PHCs).

The directions were issued on a suo motu PIL, of January 2023, over the death of a woman and her newborn infant in Amrabad in Nagarkurnool district, due to a lack of medical equipment and the non-availability of eligible doctors at the PHCs.

CJ Aradhe expressed concern over the death of a hapless woman, 24-year-old Charagonda Swarna, who died at the Mahbubnagar Government General Hospital due to a lack of ventilator support.

Swarna was a native of Yelmapalli village in Amrabad mandal of Nagarkurnool and was at her mother’s place for her delivery. Upon going into labour, her parents took her in an ambulance to a PHC at Padara, located four kilometres away, where the staff redirected them to Amrabad PHC Hospital, which was a further 10 kilometres away. However, she was again redirected to an Achampet hospital, due to the non-availability of medical equipment, 25 kilometres away.

In the interim, Swarna’s BP was not stable due to which she was given primary treatment at Achampet and then ferried to another Nagarkurnool hospital, 35 kilometres away. But as her condition continued to deteriorate, she was further redirected to the Mahbubnagar hospital, 50 kilometres away, where she reached around 2 am. While the doctors helped her deliver her child, a boy, Swarna died due to convulsions while the boy died after some time.

The court noted that she was transported 124 kilometres for delivery, despite being in labour. Further, despite approaching five hospitals, they could not get the required medical service, due to which the mother-son duo died. The court noted a lack of timely treatment at the Amrabad hospital due to a lack of equipment in the operation theatre and also a lack of specialised doctors.

Following an earlier instruction of the High Court, the medical superintendent of the Achampet Government Hospital, in an affidavit, informed the court that the woman had to be put on a ventilator, but the hospital lacked ventilators, due to which she died.

Noting the lack of facilities, the High Court directed the government to give all details of budgetary allocations and facilities provided at government hospitals in rural areas.

HC seeks govt officials' responses over PSC paper leak PIL

The division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice T. Vinod Kumar issued notices to a slew of senior state officials over the TSPSC question paper leak probe, over a PIL seeking transfer of the investigation from the SIT to the CBI.

Notices were issued to the Telangana Chief Secretary, principal secretary of the home department, director of CBI, TSPSC chairman, Hyderabad police commissioner and the special investigation team, seeking their responses within three weeks.

In the PIL, petitioner Bakka Judson, a political activist associated with the Congress, sought handover of the Group-1 question paper leak to the CBI, questioning the credibility of the SIT, especially of its head, A.R. Srinivas, the additional commissioner of police (crimes).

Though the PIL was filed on April 20, the High Court registry did not allot a number to the PIL, raising objections and questioning its validity as PIL, contending it was not in the public interest.

On Wednesday, the counsel for Judson argued that several lakhs of candidates had spent their time and money in preparing for the Group-1 exams, but the question paper leak hindered their aspirations and affected them personally.

The bench, however, expressed doubts because most PILs were filed due to personal or political interests. The petitioner’s counsel then submitted that his client was ready to pay the costs imposed, if the court could conclude that the petitioner had filed the PIL on personal interest.

Following the contention, the bench overruled the registry’s objection and directed it to allot a number, further directing notices to respondents, seeking counters within three weeks.

Home department government pleader Roopender informed the bench that a writ petition seeking a CBI probe was already pending before a single-judge bench and that the SIT had filed three status reports to apprise the court of the progress in registering cases against those responsible, by identifying candidates who obtained more than 100 marks, questioning, money received by the accused and the stage of the investigation.