25-year-old pregnant tribal woman dies after stillbirth, inquiry launched

A pregnant tribal woman in Palghar district, India, died allegedly due to negligence by doctors at a local health centre. The district health officer has launched an inquiry into the incident.

PALGHAR: The Palghar district health officer (DHO) has launched an inquiry after a 25-year-old pregnant tribal woman died on Friday allegedly due to negligence on the part of doctors at Khodala Primary Health Centre. The woman passed away four days after the child died in her womb.

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The deceased, Rupali Bhau Roaj, 25, was a resident of Adoshi Shirasgaon village, around 15km from the taluka headquarters of Mokhada and was eight months pregnant. On January 13, she started feeling pain and was rushed to Khodala Primary Health Centre.

However, after keeping the woman under observation for the entire day, the doctors at the primary health centre sent her back home saying nothing was serious, said sources from the civil hospital.

A day later, on January 15, the woman fell ill and was again taken to Khodala Primary Health Centre from where she was referred to Mokhada Rural Hospital after her condition deteriorated. During examination, doctors found that the foetus had died in her womb and the woman was referred to Nasik Civil Hospital where the dead foetus was removed by surgery, but the woman died on January 19 while she was undergoing treatment.

Her husband has accused the doctors at Khodala Primary Health Centre of negligence, claiming that their apathetic approach had caused the death of his wife and their unborn child. Against the backdrop of the allegations, district health officer Dr Santosh Chaudhari has initiated an inquiry into the death of the 25-year-old pregnant tribal woman and the child in her womb. Their postmortem reports are still awaited.