Pregnant woman dies at Kurla hospital; family alleges medical negligence

Vijay Pathak, 41 – a resident of New Mill Road, Kurla West – had brought his wife Kiran Pathak, to Bhabha Hospital after she started having labour pain around 6 am on Thursday.

Mumbai: A 35-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child died in Khan Bahadur Bhabha Hospital in Kurla on Thursday. Her family alleged negligence from the hospital for initially refusing to admit her and then delaying her treatment. The bodies were sent for post-mortem to state-run JJ Hospital.

An accidental death report (ADR) has been registered. “A committee of senior doctors will look into the allegations of medical negligence and based on their report we will decide the further course of action,” said Ravindra Howale, senior police inspector of Kurla police station. (HT PHOTO)

Vijay Pathak, 41 – a resident of New Mill Road, Kurla West – had brought his wife Kiran Pathak, to Bhabha Hospital after she started having labour pain around 6 am on Thursday.

“The hospital was initially hesitant to admit my wife. Around 7 am they admitted her to the maternity ward after several requests. They, however, were reluctant to attend and treat her. Thrice my wife came out of the maternity ward and told me that she was in unbearable pain but the hospital staff did nothing,” said Vijay.

“I went to the nurses around and told them if they are not ready to treat my wife, I am ready to take her to some other hospital,” he added.

“Later the cops and the hospital authorities started forcing me to sign some papers and take the body immediately,” said Vijay. “I want the police to inquire into her death.”

The hospital has, however, denied the allegations of negligence. “The woman was having some comorbidities that made it a very high-risk pregnancy, to begin with,” said an official from the hospital. We have made the police aware of the exact nature of the problems being faced by the mother, and the risks associated with them.”

He refuted the claim that there was any delay in attending to the patient, saying that the doctors did take some time in assessing her situation and the direction of the treatment.

An accidental death report (ADR) has been registered. “A committee of senior doctors will look into the allegations of medical negligence and based on their report we will decide the further course of action,” said Ravindra Howale, senior police inspector of Kurla police station.

Former Congress councillor from Kurla, Ashraf Azmi, said the incident needs to be thoroughly investigated. “In the past, there were some incidents in which the hospital staff acted very arrogantly and treated people inappropriately. Apart from the regular staff, the outsourced staff, especially the security guards at the hospital are also very arrogant.”