Two women, shifted to Government Hospital in Coimbatore from Udhagamandalam in critical condition following delivery related complications, died taking the number of such deaths in the hill town facility since last week to four.
The fresh deaths triggered protests by the relatives of the women who demanded action against doctors and others while authorities at Sait Memorial GH in Udhagamandalam in neighbouring Nilgiris District, where the four were treated, stopped attending to delivery cases for two days from today.
Jayanthi and Amuda died on December 23 and 26 respectively during delivery following blood loss and contracted uterus. Three other women also developed complications and of them two were shifted to the GH in Coimbatore.
One of them died last night and another early today without responding to treatment, hospital sources said.
As far as the fifth woman, her all vital organs had started failing and best treatment was being provided to save her, a health department official said.
Protesting the deaths and seeking immediate arrest of the doctors, who attended to the delivery cases, over 200 people squatted on the road in front of the GH in Coimbatore, affecting traffic for an hour.
Tamil Nadu Health Services Project Director M Shanmugham, and Medical Services Director A Chandranathan told reporters in Udhagamandalam that in view of the deaths, handling of delivery cases had been stopped in the hospital for two days.
The health department had made arrangements to take expecting women to Coimbatore and also, Chandranathan said.
Attributing the deaths to anemia, blood pressure, over bleeding and sudden epileptic attack, the two officials said one of the deceased was also underweight.
Shanmugham said only 69 deaths per one lakh deliveries were reported in Tamil Nadu as against the national average of 140.
In Udhgamandalam, a total of 2,456 deliveries including 1,356 cesarean cases, were handled in the last 12 months ending November without any casualties, the officials said.
