Meghalaya: City hospital refuses to admit pregnant woman; authorities clarify
Shillong | June 02, 2019:
The Ganesh Das Hospital has landed into fresh controversy after it allegedly refused to admit a pregnant woman who requires immediate cesarean surgery.
As per reports, a woman from Mawlai Umjapung was rushed to Ganesh Das Hospital at around 12.30 am on Sunday wee hours after having labour pain.
On reaching the hospital, the doctor on duty told the family members of the pregnant lady that they cannot admit her as they do not have the necessary equipment for carrying out the emergency cesarean operations. After the hospital refusesd to admit her, the family members were forced to shift her to Nazareth Hospital.
Interestingly, the family members had to wait for two hours for the 108 Ambulance to shift the pregnant woman to Nazareth Hospital.
The Federation of Khasi Jaintia and Garo People (FKJGP) also intervened into the matter. According to the FKJGP, the doctor on duty said that the hospital is facing shortage supply of equipments. The FKJGP also said that the doctor on duty told them the hospital had written to the State Government to upgrade the hospital to a State Hospital which would addresss the issue of shortage of supply of equipments. The FKJGP education secretary, Reginald Thabah demanded the State Government to compensate the pregnant woman for the suffering she had to go through.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Ganesh Das Hospital Superintendent, Dr (Mrs) N. Wanswett said that the reports about the shortage of equipments in the hospital is not true.
"The hospital could not admit the pregnant woman since they did not have the sterile drapes to isolate the surgical site from the other areas of the patient's body after surgery," Dr Wanswett said. She said that they will land into problem if they use un-sterile drapes as the patient might get infection.
According to her, the decision not to admit her was in the best interest of pregnant woman. "We do not want the patient to develop any complications after the surgery," Ganesh Das Hospital Superintendent said.
When asked if the hospital is not ready to take up emergency cases, she said that the hospital normally does not take up surgery cases on Saturday. "But we had to take up several emergency surgery cases on Saturday. It was due to this reason that there was shortage of sterile drapes," Dr Wanswett said. She also said that the hospital is not catering patients only from East Khasi Hills since patients from Ri-Bhoi, West Khasi Hills and South West Khasi Hills would come to the hospital for treatment.
