Despite lapses, Lal Ded hospital supdt part of inquiry committee

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, January 22

The authorities at Government Medical College, Srinagar, have admitted that the Kupwara woman had delivered on the road after the doctor on duty at Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar refused to admit her on Thursday evening. They said the incident had led to protests in the area.

This has been stated in the three-page suspension order issued on Monday evening by Principal, Government Medical College, Prof Samia Rashid. She has included the Medical Superintendent of Lal Ded Hospital, Dr Shabir Sidiqui, into the five-member broad-based inquiry panel constituted by her on Monday despite “administrative lapses” at the maternity hospital in the backdrop of the roadside delivery.

The committee has been asked to “enquire into the matter in all aspects by hearing all stakeholders” and furnish a report within two days.

“After refusal of admission, the patient delivered in the open in the Bemina area which caused a hue and cry and evoked protests in the area,” reads the suspension order issued against the doctor on duty, Dr Shanu. The suspension order says the said doctor did not follow “the standard operating procedures in vogue at the GMC, Srinagar, and its associated hospitals.”

Shanu, who is pursuing MD in obstetrics and gynaecology at the GMC, Srinagar, was on emergency duty on Thursday when the incident happened.

Sources in the hospital said no registrar was posted in the emergency section of the hospital on Thursday evening. It is the registrar who has to take a final call on the admission of the patient along with the doctor on duty.

As per laid down procedure, senior doctors such as the registrar were supposed to take a call on the admission of the Kupwara woman who later delivered on the road in the Bemina locality in freezing cold on Thursday evening.

After being informed by the Block Medical Officer, Kalaroos, Kupwara, that the woman had delivered in the open, the Lal Ded Hospital authorities dispatched an ambulance to the spot, but again erred by discharging her within hours on Friday. The woman was supposed to remain admitted to the hospital for at least 48 hours after delivery.