On the 26th of May, Ms. Santhi Kumar, the Special Chief Secretary of Telangana, submitted a report on a recent death of a newborn baby and mother due to the refusal of doctors for treatment.
In April a pregnant woman was refused treatment and was shifted hospital to hospital due to the fear of being COVID-19 positive.
The doctors refused to treat her as she was a resident of Jogulamba area of Gadwal district, which was then designated as a containment zone for the spread of the Novel Coronavirus infection.
In regard to this, Ms. Kumar submitted a report to the Telangana High Court and said, “Doctors there (Mahabubnagar district hospital) should have taken care of her. That could have saved her life. Doctors at the Sultan Bazaar hospital did not even examine her.”
Ms. Shanti Kumar recommended strict action against the 6 hospitals, which refused treatment, leading to the death of both the young mother and her new born baby boy.
On the 23rd of April, due to some complications in her pregnancy, Janeela, the woman was taken to a primary healthcare centre in Rajoli. The centre suspected her to be COVID-19 positive and referred her to the Gadwal district hospital.
After reaching Gadwal hospital, doctors there refused treatment and asked her to switch to Mahabubnagar district hospital. Then she switched to Government Maternity Hospital in Sultan Bazaar and to the Gandhi Hospital, where she was finally tested for COVID-19. After resulting negative for COVID-19, Gandhi Hospital authority sent her to the 6th hospital, where she delivered a baby boy.
On the next day due to the critical health condition, the mother and the boy died at the Osmania Hospital and Niloufer hospital on the 28th and 27th of April respectively.
The State Government held 6 doctors of the 6 hospitals responsible for the death and ordered and enquiry against them.
The case came into light after a few public interest litigation (PIL) filed against the doctors of the aforementioned hospitals.
Stay tuned for further updates.
