Suspended Tumakuru doctor: I was in operation theatre when woman came to hospital

TUMAKURU: A gynecologist who was among the four staffers of the Tumakuru district hospital who was suspended after a woman in labour was denied treatment and died along with her unborn twins has said that she is not guilty of any wrongdoing as she was busy in the operation theatre (OT) on the night of November 2, the day of the incident.
Kasturi, 30, was in labour and allegedly denied treatment at the district hospital as she did not have her Aadhaar and Thayi card. The woman returned home and was found dead the next day by neighbours. Her twin babies too had died.
Hours later, the state government suspended Dr Usha A R, gynaecologist, and nursing officers Yashoda B Y, Divya Bharati and Savita, pending departmental inquiry.
In her letter to the president of the district unit of Karnataka Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA), Dr Usha has denied any dereliction of duty on her part and said that she has been suspended without looking into her statement and examining CCTV footage.
Narrating the sequence of events on the fateful day, Dr Usha said that on November 2, she worked at the outpatient department and in-patient department from 9am to 5pm.
"I left for the OT later. From 5.30pm to 9.30pm, I performed eight surgeries and after finishing it, I was on my way to the labour room to check on the pregnant women who had been admitted when I saw a pregnant woman and two elderly women walking in the corridor," she said.
D r Usha said she then walked into the labour room and on checking with the PG student and nurse on duty, she was told that the pregnant woman had declined admission and examination.
The gynaecologist said that when the health minister visited the hospital, a woman ASI had told him that according to her preliminary investigation the woman wanted to deliver at home as she had with her first child but neighbours forcibly brought her to the hospital.
KGMOA president Dr AN Desai told TOI, “We will meet the health minister on Monday and appeal that action be taken against the culprits and not against those who were not responsible for the incident.”