Lack of proper facility forces tribal woman to go from one hospital to another

Kollegal: Lack of proper facility at the Government Hospital forced a tribal woman to go from one hospital to another and later deliver a baby inside the ambulance on the way to a hospital in Mysuru resulting in the death of the baby.

The incident took place at about 2 am on Saturday. But District Surgeon Dr. Muralikrishna has stated that the baby had died in the womb itself and the woman’s family members have alleged that lack of proper facility had led to the baby’s death.

Details

On Saturday, the pregnant woman, identified as Mahadevamma of Putteerammadoddi village in the forest border of Kollegal taluk, experienced labour pain and her husband Mahadev immediately rushed her to the nearby Kamanagere Primary Health Centre (PHC). Though this PHC is a 24X7 maternity hospital, there were no doctors and hence, the PHC’s door was closed.

Not knowing what to do, the woman’s family members rushed her to Kollegal Sub-Division Hospital, where the doctors, who examined her, reportedly did not admit her to the hospital but instead told her family members to take her to the District Hospital. 

One again, the family members rushed the pregnant woman to the District Hospital and the doctors, who examined her told the family members to get a scan done outside and come back as there was no scanning facility at the Hospital at night.

Desperate to get the scanning done, the family members took the pregnant woman in an auto and roamed the town in search of a scanning centre but in vain and again returned to the District Hospital. The doctors told the woman’s family members that there was no movement of the baby in the womb and it was necessary to get the scanning done, without which they could not treat the woman and advised them to take the woman to Mysuru as the Hospital’s Radiologist would not come on Sunday.

The pregnant woman’s husband said that he somehow managed to get an ambulance and had shifted his pregnant wife to Mysuru but she delivered a stillborn baby in the middle of the journey inside the ambulance. “Not knowing what to do, I brought my wife back to the District Hospital and admitted her,” Mahadev added.

If there was a Radiologist in the night at the District Hospital, the scanning would have been done and the doctors could have treated the woman after looking at the scanning report. 

The 300-bed District Hospital should have seven Radiologists but the District Hospital has only two, that too one of them on leave, which is hampering the service. The Government should take serious note of this incident and take steps to appoint required number of Radiologists and prevent such incidents from taking place in future.

The baby had died in the womb before the woman came to the hospital. They refused to get the woman admitted to the Hospital and took her to Mysuru. If they had admitted her here, such incident would not have taken place. There are two Radiologists at the District Hospital and one of them is on maternity leave. Hence, one radiologist is working during day shift and there is a problem for scanning facility during night. Necessary steps would be taken to solve this problem. —Dr. Muralikrishna, District Surgeon