PTI
Jaipur/Kota
A 25-year-old woman died at Bikaner’s PBM Hospital after battling post-Caesarean complications for over a month, the third maternal death at the facility in recent weeks, officials said on Wednesday, as Rajasthan struggled with a surge in such cases.
The state has reported 19 maternal deaths, mostly linked to post-Caesarean complications and kidney failure, in three months, bringing hospital practices under the scanner.
The Rajasthan government has ordered a probe into the post-delivery complications at Kota hospitals. Certain drugs in supply but not directly linked to postpartum complications were found to be substandard and have been banned. Cases of maternal deaths have also been reported from Bikaner, Bhilwara and Banswara.
It was supposed to be a two-day hospital stay and at the end of it, a baby in their arms. However, for five women at Kota’s New Medical College Hospital (NMCH), it has turned into a harrowing tale of misery and financial ruin and endless rounds of dialysis as they continue to battle kidney infection suffered after their C-section delivery.
“She is terrified of the word dialysis now,” said Mohan Lal, whose wife, Dhanni Suman, has been at the hospital since the first week of May. “Within an hour of starting the process, she begins vomiting, shivering violently and has a high fever. She cannot eat anything on those days,” he said at the hospital.
The women have undergone 32 rounds of dialysis in the past 68 days. Five other women, at NMCH and JK Lone Hospital, died from complications following a caesarean delivery.
On Wednesday, the five women’s kin wrote to the President of India seeking permission for euthanasia if they do not get a kidney transplant. They sent a memorandum to Droupadi Murmu through speed post with the demand after the five refused to take dialysis and insisted on a kidney transplant or death.
The letter was shot after a memorandum submitted on Monday to district authorities, demanding kidney transplants, elicited no result. “If they do not give us a written assurance for kidney transplants within 48 hours, we will stop bringing them for dialysis,” Mohan Lal said.
and let them die. We are living like walking corpses,”
On Wednesday, NMCH Principal Dr Nilesh Jain claimed that the five new mothers with kidney complications were fully stable and fit to be discharged. He said that the women have been fit to go home for the past 20 days and can receive dialysis on an outpatient basis.
At least 80 patients undergo maintenance dialysis daily, and all of them come to the hospital to take it, he stressed.
Responding to the patients’ refusal to take dialysis, Dr Jain said if they refuse, toxic waste will accumulate in the body, leading to severe health complications. In such an event, the hospital will formally report the matter to the district administration for necessary intervention, he said.
On transplants, the principal said that a patient must be observed for three to six months under acute renal failure before being categorised for end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Discussing transplants at this juncture is premature, he said.
Ragini Meena, 29, is now entirely dependent on dialysis to stay alive. “My sister came here to deliver a baby, expecting to stay for just two days,” Vikas said. “Today, she cannot survive even 24 hours without dialysis. Every 48 hours, she has to undergo the procedure,” he added.
Ragini’s husband, Lokesh, who worked at a finance company, lost his job, and the family is borrowing money to make ends meet, Vikas said.
Mohan Lal, a cab driver, also had to sell his sole source of livelihood – his taxi – to attend to his wife at the hospital. “Keeping up with the expenses became impossible. I had to sell my taxi. Now, even those funds are almost completely exhausted,” he said. Their baby, born on May 8, is under the care of a relative. They have two other children, aged 5 and 10, who are with their grandmother at home.
Pinki Aerwal’s husband, Naresh, said the government has shut its eyes to the plight of the women and their families. Their child, delivered on May 8 at JK Lone Hospital, died shortly after delivery.
“They gave Rs 5 lakh to the families of those who died, as if a human life is only worth that much,” Naresh said, referring to monetary assistance provided by Lok Sabha Speaker and local MP Om Birla to women who died due to the infection.
“What about those who are trapped in between, the ones who are dying slowly every single day?” he asked.
