The deaths of Aishwarya and her newborn were caused by medical negligence, reported the medical board constituted. The deaths had taken place in Thangam Hospital in Palakkad in July this year. The report states that the doctors who treated Aishwarya, the deceased woman, were negligent in the discharge of their duties. The police confirmed the same while addressing the media. Further details regarding the report are awaited.
Protests by the deceased’s relatives had led to the forming of the medical board in July. The board had been investigating the deaths for the past two months. Based on the board’s findings, the police will summon the doctors involved and their statements will be taken,the reports said.
Aishwarya was admitted with labour pains to Thangam Hospital on June 29. Her family had alleged that the doctors who initially advised a c-section had later decided to proceed with normal delivery, which led to the newborn’s death by strangulation with the umbilical cord on July 3. They were later informed of an unidentified bleeding in Aishwarya’s body, which needed to be operated on. The family alleged that they were left in the dark about Aishwarya’s condition until just before her death on July 4. The hospital had allegedly buried the newborn hurriedly and this too had caused the family to raise concerns of medical negligence.
The health minister had ordered a probe against the Hospital on July 6, after a third death was reported within days of the deaths of the mother and newborn. Twenty-nine-year-old Karthika had died on July 6 after she failed to recover from the anaesthesia administered before a surgery to treat her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA). Health minister Veena George had ordered the probe under the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act 2018. This was the first time the Act was invoked against a hospital in the state. A committee headed by the district collector will conduct the probe. This was in addition to the health department’s probe.