Family blocks Doda-Kishtwar highway over negligent death of lady

Ajay Raina

JAMMU, Dec 16: The family members of a lady, who died due to alleged negligence of a gynecologist at District Hospital (DH) Kishtwar after delivering a male baby, along with locals blocked the vehicular movement on Doda-Kishtwar highway for several hours in protest against the death of the lady.
The protestors were demanding registering of case against the gynecologist responsible for the death vis-à-vis her immediate suspension.
The family members of the deceased lady identified as Darshla Devi, wife of Shiv Kumar, a resident of Tagood, district Kishtwar assembled in the premises of DC Office Kishtwar along with the dead body of the lady and raised slogans against the hospital administration and gynecologist Dr Shabnam Laila, whom they held responsible for the death of the woman.
They disclosed that the pregnant lady was admitted in the hospital due to labour pain yesterday and she delivered a male baby after undergoing operation. The protestors also revealed that this was second baby of the lady as she had a daughter earlier.
After around three hours of the operation, the lady died due to the negligence of Dr Laila, they added.
The protestors added that Dr Laila is a diploma holder and not a degree holder and her appointment to such an important post of conducting operation of the pregnant ladies revealed the lethargic attitude of the hospital administration towards the patients mostly the pregnant women.
The protestors also blocked the vehicular movement on the Doda-Kishtwar highway for around five hours, leading to long traffic snarls.
After protesting for around five hours, police rushed to the spot and tried to pacify the agitators, but failed as the protestors remained stirred on their demands of registering a case against the erring lady doctor and her immediate suspension.
Later, DC Kishtwar Mohammad Javed Khan came out of his office and after going through the case ordered magisterial inquiry to be conducted by Sub-District Magistrate (SDM) Chatroo Kartar Singh submission of the and report in four days. DC also recommended for the transfer of gynecologist Dr Laila to higher authorities in the interest of the people.
On the assurance of DC Kishtwar, the protestors dispersed and vehicular movement was restored on Doda-Kishtwar highway.
Meanwhile, showing no faith on the doctors at DH Kishtwar, the family members demanded that the autopsy be got conducted by some other doctors and on the request forwarded by CMO Kishtwar to CMO Doda, board of doctors was constituted from District Hospital (DH) Doda, which conducted the postmortem.
After conducting autopsy, the body was handed over to family members for last rest.
Official sources told the EXCELSIOR that District Hospital (DH) Kishtwar is catering to the needs of over one lakh patients and is presently under scarcity of doctors and other staff including paramedics.
Sources also revealed that the DH Kishtwar is also facing acute shortage of ventilators, which are required during any operation.
“Shortage of ventilators was the reason behind the death of the lady, as when the lady was shifted to the ward she was breathing high and was in urgent need of ventilator, which the hospital administration failed to provide, resulting into the death of the woman”, sources stated.
Several times, recommendations for deputing the staff and availability of ventilators were sent to higher authorities, but nothing has been done till today, they added.
When contacted, Dr Parvaiz Ahmed, Superintendent of DH Kishtwar told EXCELSIOR that the lady suffered cardiac arrest during operation, but that time the patient was revived with the hectic efforts of doctors and allied staff.
When the lady was shifted to ward after operation, she collapsed after around hours due to another cardiac arrest, he added.

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