SHILLONG: A day after the fiasco over admission of a pregnant woman in Ganesh Das Hospital leading to the death of her newborn, the state government on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to the hospital authority for explaining the reasons for such insensitivity.
Clearly unhappy with the way the matter was handled by the hospital, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong on Wednesday said that the hospital should have been pre-emptive in its approach considering the COVID-19 situation.
The newborn died in the Hospital here on Tuesday evening shortly after birth, and hours after the mother had had to suffer pain and humiliation of being refused admission by the state government-run hospital in the morning only because she was from Mawlai Mawtawar, a containment zone in the city.
As a fire-fighting step, the Health Department held a meeting with the Rangbah Shnong of Mawtawar and Ganesh Das Hospital authorities on Thursday and it was assured that temporary arrangements would be made in the Hospital isolation ward by adding extra beds.
Health Minister AL Hek pointed out that the government had already given a warning that no hospital should deny treatment to anybody and if there were any complaints, the government would take a serious view on the matter.
DHS (MI) Dr Aman War while giving an account of the incident said that the woman could not be admitted in the isolation ward of the hospital as it had only five isolation beds and the hospital authorities could not take the risk of putting her elsewhere as she came from a containment zone and there was a likelihood for her to be positive.
He said the patient had even visited other hospitals in the city and later the woman was once again called back to the Hospital and she was examined and admitted in the isolation ward of the hospital.
He claimed that the baby’s death was not related to the delay but because of some other complications.
Learning from the incident, the DHS also conceded that the government hospitals would have to be prepared for accommodating patients coming from contaminated zones.
As a stop gap arrangement, two vacant halls of the hospital will be used as isolation wards to receive the patients in the 25 beds.
Earlier, Mawlai MDC Teibor Pathaw said that Hek assured to constitute a departmental enquiry into the incident and take action against those involved after a delegation from Mawlai Mawtawar called on him on Wednesday.
Headman of Mawlai Mawtawar, Cornelius Kharkongor said, “We expect that the departmental enquiry is done as early as possible. The government should take the responsibility. They did not get any bed even though they were there since morning”.
Asked, whether the hospital authorities provided any explanation, Kharkongor said, “They did not provide any explanation. Instead, they said that they needed time to find out and will call us later then”.
Pathaw decried the incident, saying stigmatisation at a government hospital was not acceptable to the public.
Meghalaya Pradesh Mahila Congress president Joplyn Scott Shylla also criticised the apathy of the hospital in stigmatising against the mother who hails from a containment zone.
Shylla said that the state government should have separate health centres for COVID-19 positive and negative pregnant women.