A woman and one of her twin newborns died during delivery at the Modern Government Maternity Hospital in Petlaburj in Hyderabad on Saturday. 27-year-old Rizwana Begum’s kin have alleged negligence on the part of the doctor who treated her and have also levelled bribe charges against him and other hospital staff. The Charminar police have registered a case of negligence against the hospital authorities.
The deceased, a resident of Shamshabad, developed labour pain on Saturday morning and her kin immediately called the Petlaburj hospital, located about 20 km away, for ambulance service.
Talking to TNM, Sheik Sha Vali, the victim’s brother, said that the patient developed difficulty in breathing on the way to the hospital but was denied an oxygen mask since they didn’t have enough money to bribe the ambulance driver.
“The driver demanded a bribe of Rs 1,000 but we did not have the money. We pleaded, but nothing moved him. The altercation further delayed the travel and my sister developed complications by the time we reached Petlaburj,” Sha Vali said.
On reaching the hospital, the woman and her kin were again stopped by the security guard who demanded a bribe of Rs 500 to let the vehicle in.
“Since we didn’t have money to pay him, we were not provided with a wheel chair or a stretcher. My sister had to walk till the emergency ward. People like us go to government hospitals because we are promised free treatment. But at Petlaburj, even to move a dead body outside the hospital, everybody from the security guard to the doctor has to be bribed,” Sha Vali says.
Allegations of bribe do not end here. Sha Vali told TNM that the delivery was delayed by an hour as the doctor demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to conduct the operation. “The doctor told us that since the treatment was free, we had to spend some amount on the delivery. After we refused, the delivery got delayed by an hour.”
This was Rizwana’s third delivery and she had been under the treatment of the doctors at the Petlaburj hospital for the past nine months. But her brother alleges that not once did they mention anything about any complications during the course of treatment.
Sha Vali said that the just before the operation, doctors informed them that the situation was precarious and that they would be able to save either the mother or the twins. Rizwana’s husband, Mohammed Jahangir Pasha, asked the doctor to save his wife.
“Later, we were informed that one of the twins was born through normal delivery and second through C-Section. However, after some time, we learned that one of the babies had died and the mother too had passed away,” Sha Vali said.
He also said that neither Rizwana’s husband nor any of the relatives were allowed to see the new-borns until they were informed about the death of the infant and the mother.
The twin girl who survived has been admitted at Niloufer Hospital and her condition was serious as of Saturday night. Rizwana leaves behind two more children, aged 3 and 1.
“By the time the Charminar police reached the hospital, neither the superintendent nor the RMO of the hospital were available. The hospital staff informed the police that certain medical complications led to my sister’s death,” Sha Vali said.
Charminar police inspector K Chandra Sekhar Reddy said a case has been registered under section 304 (a) of the IPC against the doctor based on a complaint from Rizwana’s husband.
Authorities at the Modern Government Maternity Hospital refused to comment on the issue citing the fact that it is a ‘Sunday’.
After a couple of maternity deaths at the government hospitals in Petlaburj and Sultan Bazaar last year, C-sections were suspended for a brief period of time and referred to Niloufer Hospital for better treatment. A committee that was formed to address the issue had suggested bolstering the hospitals with more staff and to improve communication between hospitals at various levels.