Thiruvananthapuram, July 6 (BPNS)
Palakkad-based Thangam Hospital becomes the first hospital in the state to face proceedings under the Kerala Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act 2018. The hospital was recently in the eye of the storm following the death of a newborn and later the mother following alleged medical negligence.
According to health minister Veena George, following a slew of complaints including incidents of back-to-back deaths, the health department conducted an inquiry and upon finding merit in the same it was decided to initiate action under the act.
It is learned that the hospital might get its registration suspended or get canceled. The district registering authority headed by the district collector has been asked to conduct a thorough inquiry into the incidents.
As per the act, the district registering authority might grant, renew, suspend or cancel the registration of a clinical establishment. Also, it has the power to cancel the registration of such clinical establishments where there is imminent danger to public health and the health and safety of patients and staff.
The act envisages improvement of public health by prescribing basic minimum standards for different categories of clinical establishments to ensure the provision of proper quality healthcare by the clinical establishments.
Earlier, the private hospital faced huge protests following the deaths of a newborn child and later the mother. The woman, Aishwarya — who was a native of Thattamangalam — died on July 4, a day after the death of her newborn child. Her relatives then alleged that it was negligence on the part of the hospital that resulted in the deaths. They also complained that the hospital didn’t communicate the complications Aishwarya experienced until her death.
It was on June 29 that Aishwarya was admitted to the Thangam Hospital with labor pains. The doctors then found that she was having a complicated pregnancy. They then preferred a C-section surgery but later advised normal childbirth.
The family, considering the deteriorating condition of Aishwarya, insisted that she needed a C-section surgery, but the doctors allegedly tried to deliver the infant using vacuum extraction, resulting in umbilical cord strangulation, and leading to the child’s subsequent death on July 3. A day after Aishwarya also died.
Following an uproar, the police registered a case against three doctors under IPC section 304(a) (causing death by negligence).
