Doctor, 3 nurses suspended for pregnant woman’s death in Tumakuru

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar, who visited the hospital, expressed shock regarding the incident, and said that a doctor and three nurses have been suspended for their negligence

A doctor and three nurses were suspended from Tumakuru District Hospital in Karnataka on Thursday, after a woman and her twin babies died as they were denied treatment. The hospital authorities refused to admit the pregnant woman and sent her back in the absence of Aadhar card and mother card.

Doctor, 3 nurses suspended for pregnant woman’s death in Tumakuru

Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar, who visited the hospital, expressed shock regarding the incident, and said that a doctor and three nurses have been suspended for their negligence. Sudhakar also promised to bring a new law in the next session to fix accountability and punish the doctors and staff of government hospitals for misbehaving with patients.

“Saving lives and treating patients who require urgent medical attention is of paramount importance than production of documents,’’ he said speaking to media persons in Bengaluru on Friday.

“The woman was brought to the hospital by her neighbours. There is also CCTV footage of the woman entering the hospital. On arrival, the mother was asked for a government mother card and an Aadhaar card. She didn’t have both. The neighbours took her to the hospital under compulsion,” Sudhakar said.

Condemning the incident, Sudhakar said the doctor and the nurses have not only failed in their duties, but have also behaved inhumanely.

“The nurses at the hospital could have alerted the concerned doctors and provided immediate treatment. This did not happen. This is the information given to the DHO and the district surgeon when they visited the hospital. I’m convinced that there is dereliction of duty by the three nurses and the duty doctor who were at the hospital,” the health minister said.

The incident occurred at the woman’s residence in Tumakuru’s Bharatinagar locality. Kasturi (30), who hailed from Tamil Nadu, lived in a rented house with her daughter for a month.

After refusing to admit Kasturi, the nurses asked her to be taken to Victoria hospital in Bengaluru. However, the pregnant woman returned home since she did not have money to travel to Bengaluru. Following a severe labour pain on Thursday, Kasturi and her newborn twin boys died due to profuse bleeding.

Speaking to the media, Sudhakar reiterated that patients must not be forced to furnish documents at a hospital in emergency situations.

“Karnataka has been providing health services to the patients in the public health system without Mother card, Aadhaar card or ration card so far. In any case of providing emergency health services, no documents are required,” he said.

“While providing healthcare services, one should not ask about the nationality, caste, class, or financial status of the patient. It is the duty of the doctors, nurses and other staff to relieve the pain of patients and their suffering in an emergency situation,” the circular read.

“If such an incident occurs in the future, the department will not only dismiss the concerned officer or employee from service but also initiate criminal proceedings,” it added.

Sudhakar said the district administration will arrange for free education and accommodation to the woman’s daughter up to 18 years. “Personally, I would like to set up an FD in her account.”

Meanwhile, JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy took to Twitter to hit out at the government. “A while ago I tweeted about the dark side of the state @BJP4Karnataka government administration (recession incident) which is drowning in politics, elections and propaganda. But, a more terrible and gut-wrenching incident took place in Tumkur, which shook the whole of Karnataka(sic)” he tweeted.

Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah demanded Sudhakar’s resignation. “The health minister who is responsible for the death of two newborns due to the negligence of doctors in Tumkur district should immediately resign, the accused doctor should be dismissed from service and a judicial inquiry should be conducted into the whole incident,” he tweeted.