Greater Kashmir: Srinagar: Wednesday, August 16, 2017.
The inquiry
suggests that the set transfusion protocols were not followed at the hospital,
and “resuscitation measures in labour room could have been more prompt and more
effective.”
Tariq Iqbal
of Bemina here is running from pillar to post to know the cause of the death of
his young wife, who according to him died due to alleged medical negligence by
doctors of LD Hospital in June.
It is a
pathetic tale of a struggle that dejected Iqbal is fighting alone to know why
his young wife, a teacher by profession, died after delivering a healthy baby
boy.
Iqbal on June
12, 2017, filed an RTI application requesting principal GMC to provide him with
“all the documents submitted by the patient on the date of admission into LD
hospital; all the documents/prescriptions/advices given by the doctors of LD
hospital to the patient during her stay in the hospital; copy of the discharge
letter forwarded by the hospital to SKIMS, Soura, on the date she was shifted
by LD hospital authorities to SKIMS.”
Two days
earlier, the brother of the deceased had also filed an application requesting
the LD hospital authorities to provide him with “the list of Haematologists
working in the LD hospital along with their names and qualifications; the duty
chart of the Haematologists who were on duty on June 2 at 8 AM (the time when
the deceased was operated at the hospital).” The applicant requested the LD
authorities to let him know if any of the Haematologists was on duty on the
said date in the labour room of the hospital.
Both the
applications have gone unheard and unanswered compelling the applicants to file
appeals on 7th August 2017 before the principal GMC. Yet in total disregard of
the J&K RTI Act, no information has been provided to them so far.
Iqbal
believes his wife, mother of two small kids including the infant she delivered
at LD hospital on 2nd June, died due to medical negligence. “Had it not been
so, the principal/dean, GMC won’t order an inquiry into the issue,” he says.
Curiously,
the inquiry that was concluded on 19th June inter alia underlines: “Set
transfusion protocols not followed; written consent for transfusion not taken;
transfusion started by nursing orderly without information of doctor on duty;
no order for transfusion on ticket; proper receipt with signature of doctor on
duty not taken on blood form.”
The inquiry
suggests that the set transfusion protocols were not followed at the hospital,
and “resuscitation measures in labour room could have been more prompt and more
effective.”
Iqbal says
even after concluding the inquiry, no action has followed. “I believe the
inquiry was conducted by the doctors of the erring LD hospital itself, just to
evade the pressure. It was mere eyewash as no action has followed,” he says.
Shaheena, 34,
was admitted to LD hospital in a normal state on May 31. During the course of
regular medical investigation, Iqbal says, it was found that Shaheena had a low
blood platelet count of 56,000 on analyzer and 72,000 (manual platelet count),
which has been confirmed by the investigation report as quoted in the inquiry
report.
“At 8 a.m on
June 2, the date fixed for her surgery, Shaheena was injected platelets which
the doctors had already advised to her a day before,” Iqbal said.
Hafeeza Bano,
mother of the deceased said, “A male paramedical staff member, probably from
the hospital’s blood bank, came in the morning and administered two packets of
platelets. Shaheena’s condition immediately started to worsen. She started
shivering and developed intense pain in her back,” Hafeeza, who accompanied her
daughter at the moment, said.
Hafeeza says
that Shaheena’s body adversely reacted to the platelet dose, which the family
alleges was administered in absence of a doctor. “As her condition worsened,
the doctors rushed in and gave her multiple injections. Seeing her
deteriorating state, they then immediately shifted her to the emergency theatre
where she was operated upon to deliver the baby. Around one and a half hours
after we were handed over the baby and told that Shaheena was still unconscious
and her bleeding was not stopping.”
“An hour
later we were told that they needed to re-operate her in order to remove the
uterus to stop her losing her blood,” Iqbal recalls, adding that one hour later
he was asked to come in and see the patient. “That time she was in ICU on life
support. I could see blood oozing out of her,” he says, adding that the doctors
told them Shaheena’s condition was critical and it was better to take her to
SMHS or SKIMS.
“When we were
moving Shaheena towards the ambulance, one of the senior doctors told me that
she won’t survive,” he says. The patient finally died at SKIMS on 6th June
2017.
Shaheena’s
first child is five year old Madeeha Iqbal. She asks for her mother every
morning and evening to his father. “The newly born baby is over 2 months old.
Madeeha does not leave him from her lap while she asks me where the mother has
gone?” Iqbal says.
OFFICIAL
VERSION:
Medical
superintendent Lal Ded Hospital Dr Nazir Ahmed Malik said the inquiry has been
concluded and report submitted by the HoD concerned to principal/dean GMC.
“However, so far we have not received any instruction from that end,” he said.
Repeated
attempts to contact principal/dean GMC proved futile as her mobile phone was
switched off.
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