Mishandling abortion case: PCB orders probe

The probe was ordered after the allegations were brought to the notice of the PCB by a few ward members. There is an allegation that the treatment got delayed as the hospital nursing staff had objected to admit the patient. A senior executive medical officer of the cantonment board will assist the PCB CEO in the probe.

The committee will submit its report to the PCB in 10 days. President of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) Brig Rajbir Singh said,”We have ordered an inquiry into the incident. We will probe the wrongdoings if any and bring the accused to book.”

The probe will focus on allegations that the placenta and products of the abortion were not handled properly. Resident Medical Officer (RMO) of the hospital Dr S M Mahajan said,“I have instructed the hospital staff to properly dispose of placenta and other products in accordance with the biomedical waste disposal norms. We had properly fumigated the labour room after the patient was discharged.”

Dr Mahajan said the HIV-positive woman was admitted to the hospital around 1:20 pm on 24 April on instruction from the honorary specialist Dr Archana Gupta. “We have followed proper admission procedure and the abortion was carried out on Saturday. No basic investigation was carried out prior to the admission. Only after the medical investigation in the night we have learnt that the woman was HIV-positive. We took the precautions and carried out the fumigation of the labour room the next day.”

Hospital RMO said the hospital didn’t handle any deliveries on Sunday to avoid any infections and the patients were shifted to the other hospitals in the city.

The HIV-positive woman was referred to the Cantonment Hospital by Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) at Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) where she had gone along with her HIV-positive husband. She had gone there to receive the HIV test report of her husband and complained of labour pain.

The woman was pregnant for over 18 weeks when she was brought to the Cantonment Hospital. “The honorary specialist who brought the woman to the hospital said the woman was bleeding and it was handled as an emergency case,” added Dr Mahajan.