HYDERABAD: Two of the ten women who underwent caesarean sections at the Government Area Hospital in Malakpet on Wednesday died while receiving treatment at Gandhi Hospital on Thursday, after being shifted from the tertiary care hospital as their condition deteriorated.
This follows the deaths of four women from sepsis brought on by botched family planning operations in Ibrahimpatnam in August of last year.
Sri Vennala, 21, and Thanniru Shivani, 24, were two of the 10 women who underwent caesarean sections at the Malakpet hospital. They shifted to the Gandhi Hospital on Thursday night after experiencing complications. They died hours after they were shifted to the Gandhi Hospital.
Thanniru Jagadish, a software engineer from Tirupati and residing in the city, had admitted his wife Shivani to the area hospital in Malakpet on January 10. The day following her caesarean delivery, her blood pressure and pulse dropped.
“Doctors claimed that it was normal and that she would be under observation. However, the doctors asked us to shift Shivani to Gandhi Hospital for consultations, where she died. This is our first baby. The baby boy is doing well but he lost his mother,” a distraught Jagadish said.
Mahesh, Sri Vennela's husband, stated that his wife underwent a caesarean section on January 9 at the Malakpet hospital. "On Thursday, she had high fever, and the doctors informed me that she should be shifted to Gandhi Hospital after her pulse rate fell. Doctors at Gandhi Hospital said Vennela had dengue for five days and had a low platelet count. We demand that the doctors' licences at the area hospital in Malakpet be revoked,” he said.
“Our daughter did not get to drink her mother’s milk even once,” Mahesh rued.
Tension gripped Malakpet on Friday as angry family members gathered outside the area hospital protesting against the medical staff and blaming them for alleged negligence that led to the death of Sri Vennela and Shivani. They also lodged a complaint with the Chaderghat police while also demanding that the Malakpet doctors' licences be revoked.
The Chaderghat police have filed a case under Section 174 (death under suspicious circumstances) of the CrPC, inspector V. Bal Gopal said. “We will be altering the sections as the case proceeds and as per the postmortem examination (PME) report findings,” said the official.
Initial examinations, according to Dr M. Raja Rao, superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, did not reveal any infections or complications associated with the operation. "We can draw some conclusions on what might have contributed to the death of the two women once the post-mortem examination is completed," he said.
Meanwhile, revenue divisional officer Venkateswarulu announced that the government would provide `5 lakh compensation to the kin of the deceased.
Dr J. Ajay Kumar, commissioner of the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad, claimed that Sri Vennela and Shivani were shifted to the Gandhi Hospital, said, “We have set up a committee for a thorough inquiry. We will ensure such incidents do not recur,” he said.
He said that the two women who lost their lives, had underlying conditions that could have worsened their health after the surgeries.
