Five More Maternal Deaths In Karnataka

Bengaluru, Dec 11: Amid furore over a series of maternal deaths in Karnataka, five more casualties have been reported from Raichur and Chitradurga districts.

The incident of four maternal deaths from Sindhanur Taluk Government Hospital in October has come to light.

The deceased were identified as Chandrakala (26), Renukamma (32), Mousami Mandal (22) and Channamma (25).

In October, among the 300 pregnant women who gave birth, seven turned critical and four died. All victims had undergone cesarean surgery.

On October 21, Channamma gave birth after a C-Section and died after nine days. Mousami Mandal had given birth to a child on October 22 and died the next day. Renukamma had delivered on October 31 and died on the next day. After new mothers became critical, they were shifted to the Raichur Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) where they succumbed.

The families of the deceased alleged that the deaths occurred due to medical negligence and sought justice.

The families of the deceased also demanded compensation and threatened that if denied, they would protest with newborn babies in front of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

However, Raichur Deputy Commissioner K. Nitish said: "The maternal deaths occurred for different reasons. Whether the deaths occurred due to administration of intravenous fluids will be ascertained within a week. Once the report is submitted in this regard, the government will initiate appropriate measures."

"In Sindhanur Taluk Hospital, 300 deliveries are conducted every month. In October, four cases of maternal deaths were reported. Maternal deaths due to the administration of IV fluids have come to light in November. However, the IV fluids of that particular batch have been sent for testing. All four deceased were given 0113 batch of the Ringer Lactate intravenous fluid from the West Bengal company and the use of medicines from the company has been stopped," Nitish stated.

Meanwhile, Roja (24), a resident of Jaganuruhatti near Challakere died on Tuesday at the Chitradurga District Hospital. She had given birth to a male baby on October 30 and returned home after five days of delivery.

Roja had undergone a cesarean and she developed abdomen pain and irritation 40 days later. She had vomited multiple times and was admitted back to the Chitradurga District Hospital where she died.

The family of Roja alleged that she died due to the negligence of doctors and demanded action against doctors.

Meanwhile, the state government is preparing to initiate criminal proceedings against the West Bengal pharmaceutical company which supplied the Ringer Lactate intravenous fluids, which allegedly caused a series of maternal deaths in the state, sources said.

A seven-member team that visited and inspected the West Bengal pharma company was all set to submit a report to the government. The report recommended filing four criminal cases against the company, the sources said.

The report found traces of harmful content in the Ringer Lactate intravenous (I.V) fluids. The pharma company had reported to the court that their IV fluid product was not harmful. After the submission of the pharma company's report, six cases of maternal deaths were reported in the state.

The Karnataka government recently released official statistics regarding maternal deaths in the state from 2019-20 till now, claiming that the death rates are lower compared to previous years.

According to the data released by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's office on Monday, in 2019-20, a total of 662 maternal deaths were reported out of 8,94,946 live births, resulting in a Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of 74. The MMR is defined as the number of deaths of pregnant mothers per 1 lakh live births.

In subsequent years in 2020-21, 714 maternal deaths (MMR of 84), in 2021-22, 595 maternal deaths (MMR of 68); 2022-23, 527 maternal deaths (MMR of 65); 2023-24, 518 maternal deaths (MMR of 64); 2024-25 (up to November) 348 maternal deaths (MMR of 64) are reported.

--IANS