Anantnag: The Maternity and Child Care Hospital (MCCH) in Anantnag, under inquiry for alleged negligence that caused deaths of two pregnant women, on late Tuesday night referred a pregnant woman who had twice tested negative for Covid-19 to the Sub-District Hospital (SDH) in Bijbehara, designated to cater to pregnant women who reside in Covid-19 red zones.
“The ambulance driver literally dumped her at the Covid-19 hospital in Bijbehara, putting her life in grave danger,” sources at SDH Bijbehara told Kashmir Reader.
As per records, Shiraza Jan, wife of Muhammad Amin Sheikh, a resident of Kaint Gund Shangus in Anantnag district, was referred from Shangus SDH to MCCH in Anantnag late Tuesday evening.
“At about 9:30 PM the doctors at MCCH referred her to our hospital, with complications. Imagine getting referred from a maternity hospital to an ill equipped SDH. What were they even thinking at the MCCH?” a doctor at SDH Bijbehara said.
Shiraza had tested positive for Covid-19 on May 3. She was quarantined and then tested negative twice, on May 14 and May 18, for Covid-19.
“The fact that the ambulance driver dumped her at the Covid-19 hospital increased her risk of contracting the infection again and put the life of the mother as well as the child in danger,” the doctor said.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Anantnag, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, termed the incident unfortunate.
“Yes, pregnant women from red zones are to be treated at SDH Bijbehara but this particular woman had tested negative and should have been treated at MCCH without any questions asked,” the CMO said.
He added that the MCCH administration has been referring patients to the SDH “unnecessarily”.
“Care should have been taken on their part,” the CMO said, “We had to immediately arrange the referral of that woman to LD Hospital in Srinagar during the night, given her complications.”
The MCCH is an associated hospital of Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag, which oversees its functioning.
Kashmir Reader talked to GMC Anantnag principal Dr Shaukat Jeelani, who said he will look into the matter.
“Give me the details of the patient and I will see why she was referred,” Dr Jeelani said.
The MCCH in Anantnag is facing an official inquiry over the death of a woman pregnant with twins whose test results for Covid-19 came positive after her death.
She was the first person to die in Anantnag of Covid-19. Another lady from Seer Hamdan died at the MCCH and she was carried away from the hospital by her family on a stretcher.
A video of the family wheeling the body on a stretcher on Anantnag roads created quite a furore on social media.
The incidents led to action from the district administration and a probe was ordered into both the cases. More than a month has passed but the status of the probes is not known yet.

Suhail A Shah