In the midst of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi's 16th foundation day celebration at Warangal, the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) issued notices to the Telangana Health Department based on a complaint received from the opposition Congress on deaths in government hospitals in general and maternal mortalities in particular. The SHRC Secretary D. Subramanyam asked the government to submit its report on the complaint by August 3, failing which the commission would take “such action as it deems proper.”
According to the Congress, there have been over 3,000 deaths across the state since TRS took over the reins of the new state of Telangana from June 2, 2014. Taking the issue further, the Congress also demanded Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia to the families who lost their member in hospital due to negligence, and the setting up of an expert committee to study and present a report on the “pathetic” conditions in government hospitals.
In fact, in recent times, there have been incidents of government hospitals being lax where patients are concerned. To prove a point, a patient at Gandhi Hospital who could not find a wheelchair unless he paid a bribe he returned to the hospital with his son's three-wheeled tricycle. Despite this, after a few days yet another patient faced the same issue. The hospital authorities did not bother to comment on the same and neither did the government health department take any step.
The state BJP also hit out at the CM saying that he was busy fulfilling all his vows to the gods but did not bother about giving basic amenities to the citizens of the state.
The situation is fairly pathetic with government hospitals demanding money even for oxygen. Eight children died because a maternity hospital did not have incubators. In another government hospital patients died because of a power outage and a lack of generator. At the government maternity hospital, 19 Caesarean sections were performed though only 12 were scheduled. There were also a series of maternal deaths but the doctors say these were emergency cases. No action has been taken against doctors who performed the surgery and their identities are still kept confidential.
The opposition, in a vengeful mood also asked the SHRC to direct the DGP to book cases against doctors and nurses for deaths due to medical negligence, under relevant sections of the IPC. They suggested starting a toll-free help line for patients in government hospitals and also monitoring their feedback.
