Nurse held for Raj botched delivery
BARMER: The autopsy report of a foetus that was decapitated inside the mother’s womb during a botched delivery at a government community health centre in Jaisalmer district revealed the legs of the baby were fractured and liver ruptured — all on account of excessive use of force by medical staff.
Police said one male nurse Amrit Lal has been arrested while another Junjhar Singh was on the run. Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) has also been invoked against them, Superintendent of Police, Jaisalmer, Kiran Kang said. Earlier, police had registered the case under Section 304 A (causing death by negligence) and Section 336 (endangering life of a person) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On Friday, the Rajasthan government also suspended them and Dr Nikhil Sharma , who was on duty at the health centre, has been removed, officials said. Rajasthan health minister Raghu Sharma has constituted a probe committee to look into the incident. “A committee has been constituted to investigate the matter. Strict action will be taken against those found guilty. It is a severe case.
The government has a zero tolerance policy towards such negligence and this will not be tolerated,” he said.
During the time of delivery, the family alleged that a male nurse pulled the foetus so hard that it resulted in splitting the body of the baby into two parts.
The two men deposited the lower part of the foetus in the hospital’s mortuary and asked the family of the woman to take her to Jaisalmer. The mother, identified as Dikhsha Kanwar, was taken to Jawahar government hospital, and the health centre staffers informed the doctors there that they had finished the delivery but left the placenta in the womb.
Chief medical and health officer in Jaisalmer Dr BL Bunkar said the two medical staff were not trained birth attendants. According to government norms, only skilled birth attendants can conduct deliveries.
“A skilled birth attendant and a doctor were available at the Ramgarh hospital but they did not inform them and conducted the delivery on their own,” Bunkar said.