Tassaduq Rashid
Anantnag, May 04 (KNS): District Court Anantnag on Monday took suo moto cognizance of death of two pregnant women in the district and directed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Anantnag to hold enquiry into the matter within the period of 15 days.
According to Kashmir News Service (KNS), Principal District & Session Judge Anantnag Parvez Hussain Kachroo took strong note of alleged mismanaging and mishandling of medical emergencies in the district and ordered high level probe into two cases in which two pregnant ladies lost their lives and tasked the investigation process to SSP Anantnag Sandeep Chowdhary (IAS) for immediate redressal.
The order issued by the court reads, “Whereas this committee has come to know through a video which has gone viral on various posts uploaded on different social networking sites by various people and agencies, among them includes a commutation made by Secretary District Legal Service Authority Anantnag and also a representation made by Adv Wasiq to the effect, where a pregnant lady is being ferried on trolley by her relatives through the streets of Anantnag obviously for not having been provided an ambulance by the hospital authorities and not admitted in the hospital to deliver. The said pregnant lady has apparently not been admitted in the hospital but has allowed to die by the authorities without showing any compassion and without discharging duties which have been enjoined upon them by the noble medical profession”.
It further said, “Pertinently this doesn’t appear to be the first case of medical negligence but prior to this incident one pregnant lady had come to hospital at Bijbehara to deliver the child but the said pregnant lady was not attended to by the doctors on duty as a result of which she was left unattended and due to the apparent lack of medical care she gave birth to stillborn twins. Although the dead bodies of the twins were handed over to the legal heirs but the dead body of the lady was kept in the hospital and her samples were taken so as to find out as to whether she tested positive or not for the Corona virus Despite the fact her samples were taken yet here dead body was handed over to her legal heirs without waiting for the tests to come. Later on her tests proved to be positive for Corona virus but by that time her dead body was taken by her legal heirs, she was buried and during this period her dead body came in contact with her relatives, neighbors, the medical staff, the ambulance and even the driver who ferried her dead body to her home thereby endangering the life of many a people”.
“The video which has gone viral on the social media clearly shows that the lady is being ferried either on a trolley or hawker’s cart in the streets of Anantnag and nobody from hospital or medical department concerned to admit her into the hospital and attend to her and provide much needed medical care to her so that she could deliver the child. The incident has evoked great social resentment and people feel insecure and demand justice from those who are managing the things at the helm of affairs and are responsible for providing health care to the sick and ailing. The incident needs on immediate instigation and the irresponsible officials responsible for carelessness need to be booked immediately. Necessary steps are required to be taken to strengthen the faith which people have in the district administration. The general public are alleging weak response of administration towards the incident and this authority cannot watch the proceedings as a mute spectator. This authority is required to initiate an enquiry in the matter and ensure that those found guilty should be brought to book so that the faith which people have lost in the working of administration is reposed and restored”, order reads.
“Whereas in order to hold an enquiry in the matter and to find out the cause which resulted in the death of the lady who died today and also the lady who died at Bijbehara Hospital who were not apparently provided medical treatment at the hospitals, I direct worthy SSP Anantnag to hold an enquiry into this matter as well as in the earlier matter where pregnant lady died at Bijbehara hospital after giving birth to stillborn twins. The SSP Anantnag shall hold an enquiry by himself or by any other officer but not below the rank of SP. The enquiry shall be concluded within a period of 15 days and if the report of the enquiry finds that there is a case of medical negligence and the ladies haves died due to medical negligence then those responsible for medical negligence must be brought to book and the action as warranted under law may be initiated against any delinquent official. The SSP Anantnag shall also submit periodical report to this authority”, order reads. (KNS)