SHILLONG, May 4: Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Thursday said that the Director of Health Services (Medical Institutions) has been asked to probe how a portion of a needle was stuck inside a pregnant woman during labour at the Ganesh Das Hospital on May 1.
The woman was later shifted to the NEIGRIHMS in critical condition where the needle was removed on Wednesday.
She told reporters that she insisted on an inquiry at the level of the DHS (MI) to find out if there were any major lapses on the part of the medical team that attended to the young woman, Phaltima Rani from Mawlyndep village in the Ri-Bhoi district.
“We are taking this incident seriously as we want the patient and the people at large to feel reassured. Henceforth, we will ensure such a situation does not come up again,” the health minister said.
She said she was not in a position to talk about the compensation for the death of a newborn since an inquiry has been initiated.
“As per the briefing and my understanding of this, the loss of this baby was natural and there was no malpractice or error by a doctor or a medical practitioner,” Lyngdoh said. “It was unfortunate that the newborn was lost but at least the mother is safe,” she added.
She said the baby had to be resuscitated since it did not cry and it had some inherent problems.
Lyngdoh said she would visit the woman at NEIGRIHMS on Friday and get an update on her health from the doctors there.
“I am not an expert and I will go by what my officers say,” she said.
She admitted that the Ganesh Das Hospital does not have certain facilities and felt the doctors there did the right thing by referring the case to NEIGRIHMS.
Stating that it is difficult to understand why a needle had broken, Lyngdoh said the government would try to improve the facilities to ensure such errors do not happen.
