Death of Shopian woman raises questions over hospital referral protocols

Shopian, July 11: Shoby Jan, 28, now rests in her grave beneath an oblong mound of earth in her native village of Dragad, some 19 kms from south Kashmir's Shopian town.

On July 7, Jan was at her parental home in Vehil, a sleepy village barely a 15- minutes drive from the town, when she developed labour pain at around 3 am.

Her parents immediately called a nearby medical facility for an ambulance to shift her to District Hospital Shopian ( DHS). However, due to non-availability of a driver, they had to shift her in a private car.

According to the family, upon reaching the hospital, the on-duty staff decided to refer the patient to Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar , a key maternity tertiary facility in Kashmir.

Mushtaq Ahmad Ganie, father of Jan, told Greater Kashmir that it took another hour for the hospital authorities to arrange an ambulance.

Finally, Jan was sent to LD Hospital where she and her yet-to -be-born child died.

The family of the deceased woman alleged that the medical negligence on part of the doctors in Shopian led to the death of their daughter.

“They did not treat her properly . I'm unsure whether the paramedical staff or the doctors examined her at DHS,” said Ganie.

The allegation appears to be true after the tertiary care hospital reported that no proper referral protocol was followed.

“Patient had gone into irreversible shock . No IV line and no proper referral procedure was followed, no medical person was accompanying and even BP was not checked”, reported the tertiary care hospital.

On July 8, Chief Medical Officer, Shopian Dr Arshad Ahmad Tak constituted a three-member enquiry committee to ascertain the cause of the patient's referral.

According to an order, the committee shall file a detailed report within three days.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Tak said that the committee would inquire whether the medical negligence was on their part or the side of the tertiary care hospital.

Medical Superintendent (MS) DH Shopian Dr Rubina Maqbool, however, said that the patient was referred properly.

“ It was a case of a complicated pregnancy”, she said.

Maqbool said that she had been instructed to ensure admission at LD Hospital or stay in the hospital's vicinity as such patients needed immediate medical care.

"And that was possible only in a tertiary care hospital", she said.

The MS said that the patient was referred in 25 minutes after administering her IV fluids.

The family, however, alleged that they were kept waiting for more than an hour before they were sent to LD Hospital in a crowded ambulance.

“They called an ambulance from Sedow village, some 14 kms from the hospital and it reached after an hour”, alleged the family.