Tragedy: Family protests against doctors’ ‘negligence’

Doctor said complications could have been avoided if the woman had visited a qualified doctor during her pregnancy.

FAISALABAD:

Over two dozen residents of Waris Pura on Friday staged a demonstration against doctors and paramedical staff of the Divisional Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital after a pregnant woman died during childbirth.

The woman’s father, Aslam Mashi, who was one of the protestors, told newsmen that his daughter Neelum had been taken to DHQ hospital for the birth of her child.

He said Neelum was admitted and taken to the labour room but doctors did not attend to her.

He said his daughter gave birth to a baby girl but the newborn died soon afterwards. Neelum’s condition worsened after the delivery and she died too, her father said.

He accused the doctors of negligence, saying that his daughter might have survived if she had received treatment in time.

A police contingent headed by the Civil Lines station house officer (SHO) assured the protesters that action would be taken against those found responsible.

Dr Naila Ameen, a doctor on duty at the time of the incident, said the patient had been taken to the intensive care unit where she was admitted because she was showing signs of pregnancy complications.

She said the complications could have been avoided if the woman had visited a qualified doctor during her pregnancy.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2014.