No doctor for hours, new mother bleeds to death at Chennai UPHC

CHENNAI: The city police are investigating into the death of a 33-year-old woman – a mother of two, including a two-month-old – after she was admitted to Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Pulianthope on Tuesday.

The deceased was identified as Narmada Vijaya Kumar, wife of a daily wage labourer of VOC Nagar. The couple was married seven years ago and had a five-year-old son and a two-month-old daughter.

Narmada, who gave birth to a girl in the same health center two months ago, was rushed there by her husband after she developed vaginal bleeding on Tuesday at around 10.30 am.

“Till 2.45 pm there was no doctor to attend Narmada,” Vijaya Kumar said in his complaint based on which an FIR was registered at the Pulianthope police station under the CrPC section 174 (unnatural death).

Only after I asked the nurses at the hospital, they called the doctors on their mobile phones after which two doctors arrived at around 3 pm. The doctors then called 108 ambulance service for taking Narmada to Egmore Maternity Hospital where the medical team declared the patient dead immediately after being admitted there.

If the doctors were present when my wife was admitted and proper treatment given, she would not have lost her life, Vijaya Kumar lamented. He further asked the police to take action against the doctors and the hospital responsible for the death of his wife.