Two pregnant women die at Government Maternity Hospital in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Two pregnant women died at Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj on Wednesday morning. While one woman died 20 minutes after she was brought in late last night, another passed away one-and-a-half hours after arriving at the hospital today morning. Doctors at the Maternity Hospital on Wednesday said both were referral cases of high-risk nature and there was little they could have done to prevent them.  

Shabana Begum, a resident of Asif Nagar in the city, was referred to Petlaburj at 10 pm on Tuesday from Nampally Area Hospital. According to duty doctor, Shabana was suffering from seizures and her blood pressure was also way beyond normal. The doctors immediately put her on the ventilator to begin treatment, when she died.

Though there were reports of family members of the Shabana Begum, who died last night, staging a protest outside the hospital alleging medical negligence, Charminar police clarified that no cases have been registered in the absence of a complaint.

Doctors said another woman Shahin, who came in from Tandur Hospital in Vikarabad, was gasping for breath. "The baby was already dead inside the womb. She was brought in at 7 am on Wednesday and passed away 20 minutes after that," the doctor said.

Doctors at the hospital also informed that on an average, the Petlaburj Hospital receives more than 30 referral cases in a single day out of which at least 10 cases are high risk.

As many as 13 maternal deaths have been reported from Government Maternity Hospitals in Hyderabad this year. And the inquiry into first of such incident this year — death of five mothers soon after delivery between January 28 and February 4 — is yet to reach a logical conclusion.

The five-member inquiry committee's report forwarded by special chief secretary (Health and Family Welfare)  Rajeshwar Tiwari to State Human Rights Commission on October 9 found “suspicion on the questionable quality of drugs and sterile nature of intravenous fluids especially dextrose-containing solutions which might be the cause for all maternal deaths at Niloufer Hospital from January 28 to February 4.” Even two months after submission of that report to SHRC, no formal investigation has been launched to find out if the drugs were sub-standard or had any substance which caused the deaths.

Over a 100 patients get admitted when only 52 beds are available at the ante-natal ward of the hospital. The number of patients has been rising after the launch of KCR kits. Dr Nagamani, the superintendent of the hospital reiterated that there is a need to increase the number of wards and beds in order to admit the rising number of pregnant women in the hospital. Though 462 beds have been sanctioned to the hospital, requests to allot 200 more have been filed, according to sources.