15 mothers dead, babies now at risk

Jodhpur: An 18-day-old baby girl, wearing a whit frock, lies in her grandmother's lap. Nearby, a picture of Bhavna Narendra Dharu, the mother she will never know rests on a table. But in this house, there is little time to adjust to the loss of a young mother who died nine days after delivering her daughter.

This little baby girl was born underweight, and has jaundice. Doctors say she needs her mother's milk to fight the infection. A relative who has a one-year-old son and is still lactating is breast-feeding Bhavna's baby, but the baby's condition remains fragile.

Bhavna was one of 15 women who have died in the last three weeks after complications that arose during or after their deliveries at Jodhpur's Umaid Hospital. A 16th woman died yesterday - she too had been operated upon at the same hospital, but for a hysterectomy. Between the state and Centre and the hospital, five different inquiries are trying to determine what went wrong. So far, the suspicion is that intravenous fluid used for the women was infected. Samples were sent to the Central drug research lab in Kolkata for testing, but the results have yet to be declared.

It's not just mothers who died. Five babies were stillborn and one was premature. But of the nine children who survived, many are at risk without their mothers to take care of them.

There is no doubt, say many experts, including a committee of doctors who conducted an internal enquiry at Umaid Hospital, that severe medical negligence contributed to the rash of deaths.

Umaid Hospital is a government hospital, which means it sees a huge rush of patients every day. Last year, the number of deliveries shot up from 40% to 70% of the operations performed here - the result, doctors say, of a government scheme that pays women close to Rs 2000 if they deliver at a hospital instead of at home. In 2010, there were 20,600 deliveries at the operating theatre. That's almost 50 births per day in this 700-bed hospital. Given the rush, basics like fumigating operating theatres to ensure they're sanitised are often overlooked as there just isn't time.

The consequences of lapses are being paid for in no small measure. Sagar Kanwar's baby is 18 days old. His mother, Sagar Kanwar, was among the women who barely survived her delivery at Umaid Hospital.  She is now in another hospital in Jodhpur in critical condition. With multiple organ failure, her condition is bleak. She has never held her little baby boy in her arms. The newborn's grandmother says that Sagar's baby cannot digest the cow's milk he is being given; he vomits regularly and suffers from acute diaorhea. "If the mother does not make it, how will he?" she asks plaintively.

Doctors agree that for the nine infants left motherless in the Umaid Hospital tragedy, the chances of survival are low. "Without their mothers, it's difficult for them to fight their problems."

Infant mortality in Rajasthan is also higher than in other states - making the odds even tougher for the babies.