Criminal cases against hospitals ordered by DK DC

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluruj, May 12, 2016: DK DC  Adoor B Ibrahim and and P I Sreevidya, CEO, Dakshina Kannada ZP, have directed the district health and family welfare officer to initiate criminal proceedings against Government Lady Goschen Hospital and other private hospitals where 22 pregnant women died last year.

At a meeting on may 11, Wednesday,  DC Ibrahim said: "Somebody should be held accountable for the deaths. Cases should be filed under Section 307 of Indian Penal Code," adding mere serving notices to hospitals will not serve any purpose. He also directed Dr Ramakrishna Rao, district health and family welfare officer, to place under suspension licenses of the private hospitals concerned.

Maternal deaths were reported from April to October 2015. A committee headed by the DHO had reviewed each case and recorded the findings during the district-level meeting on health held on May 11, Wednesday.

Among the reasons cited by the committee for the deaths of the pregnant women included absence of intensive care facility, absence of specialists and lack of facilities for treating complicated cases of pregnancy. The DHO said notices were sent to hospitals informing them of the various short fallswhich the institutions agreed to address.

Expressing his unhappiness over the findings, Ibrahim said the committee was insensitive to loss of life, as it had failed to find the reason why these deaths could not be prevented. Meanwhile, the CEO asked the DHO to make use of powers vested in him to take stern action for lapses that are noticed. The other issue discussed during the meeting was of the working of the 12 Urban Health Centres (UHCs) set up under the National Urban Health Mission. DC Ibrahim directed NUHM Project Management officers to resolve the issues in two days.