The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the State to pay a compensation of ₹5 lakh from the corpus fund to the family of a woman who died due to postpartum haemorrhage (excessive bleeding after childbirth) in 2012.
The court was hearing the petition filed by T. Rajagopal of Kanniyakumari district who sought compensation. His wife was admitted for delivery at a Primary Health Centre. After delivery she suffered excessive bleeding.
She was administered medication by the doctors and medical staff. However, it was realised that she required blood transfusion due to loss of blood. Since there was no ambulance available at the PHC, the staff called an ambulance to shift her to a hospital for treatment.
There was a delay in the ambulance reaching the PHC. By the time the woman was shifted to the hospital, there was further delay and thereafter she was declared as dead. The petitioner sought compensation for the death of his wife.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh took cognisance of the reports that were submitted in the case and observed postpartum haemorrhage during delivery was a common cause for maternal deaths in India.
The court observed that there was no ambulance at the PHC and this was where the entire problem started. Precious time was lost. When it comes to saving life, every second counts and delay by even a few minutes can cause the death of a person.
“When it comes to medical emergency, delay can never be condoned like how leniently we condone in courts. Every PHC is supposed to have an ambulance readily available to shift patients in case of emergency”, the judge said.
The State cannot afford to run the PHC without an ambulance. The delay proved fatal, the judge said and directed the compensation to be paid to the family.
