Mangaluru, July 22: A district level national Health mission meeting was organized on Tuesday, July 21st in the city which witnessed justification from the doctors for the allegations from the family of the deceased mother and child who expired during delivery cases in some of the private and government hospitals in Dakshina Kannada.
In the district, in the past three months, six maternity deaths and one such case from Udupi had occurred. The DC listened to the grievances of the families of the deceased. He ordered for the investigations comprising team of experts including the Dakhsina Kannada health officer after learning the negligence of the Doctors and the hospital. He directed the experts committee to hold discussions with the family of deceased woman and also the concerned doctors and submit a detailed report within a month. In addition, the case of Udupi district will be brought to the attention of the Udupi district Deputy Commissioner and the health officer, and the matter would be directed for an investigation, he said.
The DC directed the health officer also to provide the copy of the investigation report to the family of the deceased woman and provide the complete details of all the seven cases. Among the seven cases, five maternity deaths have taken place at the private hospitals and two at government hospitals. In future, during such cases, the investigation committee has to conduct the investigations within a week by meeting the family of the deceased and also the concerned hospital. Within fifteen days, the investigation has to be conducted and a copy of the investigation report has to be handed over to the family of the deceased and in case, the concerned family is not satisfied with the reports, they may complain to the district administration, he informed.
As allegations were expressed by the family of the deceased against the nurses and para-medical staff, it was also directed that the district health officer must ensure that the paramedical staffs in all the hospitals in the district possess necessary training. In case, when advanced treatments cannot be provided at the primary health centres and other hospitals, measures have to be taken to shift the patient to the hospitals which have system for related advanced treatment, said the DC to the doctors.
72 children expire in the district:
This year from April to June over a span of three months, in various taluks of the district, 35 babies of within 7 days; 14 babies of 8 to 29 days and 23 babies of 29 to 1 year span; all together a total of 72 children have expired due to various reasons. In the same period, 6,985 deliveries have taken place at various hospitals. Due to the awareness programmes under taken by the Anganwadi and Asha workers, about 99.9 deliveries have taken place at the hospitals only, informed Dr Rukmini, district reproductive and child health officer in the meeting.
Direction to use ambulance in emergency cases:
It is the responsibility of the doctors to explain the seriousness of the case to the family of the patient. Even after knowing about the seriousness of the case, it is wrong to neglect it, said ZP CEO Shrividya. The doctors have to clearly direct to shift the patient by an ambulance only for advanced treatment from one hospital to the other, informed health officer Dr Ramakrishna Rao.
