A 32-year-old woman died after giving birth at the SNM hospital allegedly due to negligence of the hospital staff on December 7. According to the family, the woman allegedly died due to excessive bleeding and blamed the hospital administration for negligence.  

The sister of the deceased shared: “I had come for my sister’s help at the hospital. She was shifted to the labour room around 2:30 AM on Sunday. She had a normal delivery and gave birth around 3 AM. However, we were not allowed to meet her because the staff told us that she is tired. They asked us to bring boiled water for her. When we were not allowed to meet her despite repeated requests, we went inside forcefully and found her bleeding excessively. She had turned pale. The nurses attending her did not bother to inform us about her condition. There was no doctor around to look at her condition. Instead of making an effort to reach the hospital on time, the doctor was guiding the nurses over the phone.” 

The situation, the family members alleged, got complicated over time. “The doctor finally arrived at the hospital around 4:30, but she started asking about COVID test report instead of inspecting her. Her COVID test had already been done and her result had come negative. My sister, who was bleeding profusely, was shifted to OT for surgery in the morning. She died around 4:30 in the evening,” said the deceased’s sister. 

The family alleged that the deceased could have been saved had the doctor intervened on time.

SNM Hospital is regarded as one of the best hospitals in north India with proper infrastructure and facilities. However, we are left with unanswered questions when we hear such cases of negligence at such a reputed hospital. The unavailability of a doctor at the hospital during the night hour in cases of emergency is a matter of concern and also poses questions over the functioning of the hospital, especially at night.

Speaking on the incident and the non-availability of a doctor to attend emergency cases at night, Dr Norzin Angmo, the Medical Superintendent of SNM Hospital, shared that a committee has been constituted to look into the matter to bring out the facts. “It is too early to draw any conclusions. The matter is being investigated and a proper audit of the incident will be conducted,” she said.

An internal audit in case of maternal mortality needs to conducted as per guidelines to ascertain the reasons so that such an incident could be avoided in the future. As per sources, such audits were performed in many other cases but could not yield any concrete result.