Pregnant woman dies in Anantnag; doc, nurse suspended

SRINAGAR: A pregnant woman died of medical ‘negligence’ at Seer Hamdan Sub-district Hospital and the family members were allegedly forced to carry the body out of another hospital on a trolley after they were denied an ambulance.

A doctor and a nurse have been suspended by the administration and initiated an inquiry.

What added to the agony was that the Maternity and Childcare Hospital (MCH), Anantnag, where the woman was referred to after her condition became critical, allegedly did not provide the family an ambulance to take her body home. A video of the family dragging her dead body on a stretcher amid the lockdown went viral on social media triggering outrage.

Shakeela, 25, a resident of Salia Panzmulla, developed labour pain and was shifted to Seer Hamdan Sub-district Hospital, on Saturday morning where doctors told her to wait for normal delivery. However in the wee hours of Sunday when her condition deteriorated she was referred to Maternity and Child Hospital Anantnag where she died.

Her family stated that the only reason for her death was delayed treatment and held the medical staff responsible for her death.

Dr. Saleem Beigh, block medical officer Mattan who oversees Seer Hamdan Hospital, said that they have suspended the doctor and paramedic who treated her.

“There was no negligence on part of the doctor or paramedic because pregnancies are of different types. The two were suspended on verbal directions of the chief medical officer,” he said.

The death triggered a protest by the relatives of the woman at Seer Hamdan hospital.

Shoukat Jeelani, principal of Anantnag medical college which oversees MCH, said, “The district administration has initiated an inquiry into the death. The woman’s family members were asked to keep the body in the mortuary for a Covid test which they denied. They didn’t want her sample to be tested.”