J&K government on Saturday ordered inquiry into the death of a newborn on the roadside here after the mother from a remote village of Kupwara was “denied” admission at maternity LalDed hospital.
The government swung into action after the shocking incident led to widespread outcry with people demanding exemplary punishment to the accused doctor.
Following the incident late on Thursday, divisional commissioner Kashmir on Saturday ordered government medical college (GMC) Srinagar to carry out a time-bound inquiry into the incident. The woman from district Kupwara had given birth reportedly on the roadside after being denied admission in the LD Hospital.
The authorities at GMC have been directed to furnish the inquiry report within two days “so that appropriate action is taken against the concerned if found liable for such negligence/act”.
The GMC constituted a committee headed by college principal with head of the department gynecology and obstetrics and medical superintendent LD Hospital as its members.
The accused doctor, a postgraduate student, who allegedly refused to admit the patient was suspended and attached to office of principal GMC.
Principal GMC Srinagar, Prof Samia Rashid, while talking to Greater Kashmir said, the doctor had carried out a “thorough examination and all necessary investigations”, but “we accept that she has not followed the Standard Operating Protocol (SoP) of the hospital.”
The principal said there were strict instructions to every doctor working in GMC to admit a patient referred from periphery, irrespective of the nature of the illness, till a senior doctor sees him or her. “We have carried out a preliminary inquiry and will submit a detailed report to Government,” she said.
Medical superintendent LD Hospital Shabir Ahmed Siddiqi said there was “error of judgment on the part of the doctor”.
“At 34 weeks, we do not expect a woman to be in labour and that’s why the doctor on duty sent her home without consulting a senior doctor,” he said.
“Clinical judgment varies and it may not be negligence,” he said.
Meanwhile SHO police station Raj BaghRuzaid Ahmed said they received a complaint regarding the newborn’s death due to alleged negligence of the doctor but awaited hospital inquiry report before it could register a case.
“In case of allegations against a doctor, we cannot register an FIR until we get an inquiry report. This is as per Supreme Court ruling,” the SHO said.
He said the hospital authorities had been directed to submit a copy of the inquiry report to the police station.
The tragic case has brought to fore the plight of maternity healthcare in Kashmir in absence of adequate facilities in peripheries and over-stretched hospital in Srinagar.
The Case
On Thursday afternoon, Surayya Begum of Moori village, who was pregnant for 34 weeks, was rushed to primary health center (PHC) Kalaroos by her relatives.
“She was in pain and we carried her with great difficulty on a charpaye from Moori to Kalaroos,” MolviHanizaman, her brother said. He said that road from Moorie to Kalaroos was covered by snow and vehicles couldn’t ply on it. At PHC Kalaroos, Begum was referred to district hospital Kupwara, from where doctors sent her to LalDed Hospital, due to “complicated pregnancy… breach presentation of the baby”.
However, at LD Hospital emergency, after preliminary investigations and examination, Begum was asked to go home at 8 pm by the doctor on duty, said her relatives.
“We pleaded with them to let her stay in the hospital for the night as it was already late and we had nowhere to go in Srinagar, but they didn’t agree,” Hanizaman said.
Within half an hour of leaving the hospital, Begum delivered a baby on the road, outside Masjid Noor at Bemina here, her brother said. “The baby was born alive, but died moments later, while my sister wreathed in pain on the road,” he said.
Without a place to go, the family had planned to spend the night at the Masjid.
The incident led to massive outcry on social media with netizens demanding strict action those involved in the negligence. Earlier, taking cognizance of the case, a four-member team of Child Welfare Committee (CWC) visited the Hospital in the afternoon to get “detailed facts” about the incident from the administration.