Fifth woman dies in Kota, hospital-acquired infection suspected

Kota: A 20-year-old pregnant woman died at the govt-run New Medical College Hospital (NMCH) Sunday, taking to five the number of women who have died in Kota govt hospitals in the past fortnight. Most of the deceased exhibited symptoms like kidney failure and urinary blockage, which experts say point to a likely hospital-acquired infection.Five-months-pregnant Shireen was admitted to NMCH on May 6 for a minor procedure of the uterus. Her condition worsened the next day, with her family reporting a urinary blockage and signs consistent with a kidney infection. Family members alleged NMCH doctors pressured them to move her to a private hospital after her condition deteriorated. "It was Shireen's first pregnancy, and to save her life, the family spent Rs 4 lakhs on medicine at a private hospital," Shireen's uncle Mohammed Azaj told TOI Sunday.The family shifted her back to NMCH Saturday, where she died around 3.30pm Sunday, Azaj said, alleging the hospital staff had forced the earlier transfer.NMCH additional principal, Dr RP Meena, confirmed that Shireen was brought back from a private hospital Saturday. "She was brought here in a critical condition and put on a ventilator. She died Sunday afternoon," he said.Meena added that Shireen had undergone a minor uterus procedure at NMCH and was referred out "on her family's demand" to a facility of their choice. Her body was handed over to the police, he said."The condition of five other postnatal women currently under treatment at the hospital is stable, with all of them showing signs of improvement," he added.Shireen's death follows four similar deaths reported from Kota's govt hospitals since May 5, following which the condition of six women who had undergone C-section deliveries at NMCH's gynaecology ward deteriorated suddenly.The first, Payal (26), died the same day, while Jyoti Nayak (19) died on May 7.Two more women died later after developing similar complications. They were Priya Mahawar (22), who died at J K Lon Hospital on the intervening night of May 9 and 10, and Pinki Mahawar (30), referred to NMCH from J K Lon, who died in NMCH's SSB on the intervening night of May 11 and 12.Hospital sources said the pattern of kidney failures and urinary blockages seen in these cases suggests the deaths are more likely tied to infections contracted during the admission procedure rather than the C-sections themselves.