Shillong, May 5: Health and Family Welfare minister Ampareen Lyngdoh has ruled out any negligence from Ganesh Das Hospital on the case of a woman from Mawlyndep village, who was taken to NEIGRIHMS to remove a portion of a needle that was stuck inside her body during labour.
The minister also said the death of the baby cannot be attributed to the needle issue.
“Compensation does not arise at this point in time. Prima facie as I observed as minister of the state, there seems to be no negligence, no iota of negligence. So compensation does not arise,” Lyngdoh told reporters after visiting the woman at NEIGRIHMS.
In response to a question, the health minister said that after gathering information, the facts are very clear.
“The patient went for a delivery at Ganesh Das hospital. The patient has a history of high risk pregnancy. The patient got into a complicated situation where there was a problem with the delivery. The child was finally delivered but…the child had some complications right from the stage of birth. Now, post-delivery, the patient was kept under observation and subsequently there was bleeding and it was discovered by the staff and reported by the patient. The patient was taken back to the OT where a procedure had to start at the earliest to stop the bleeding and at the time of this procedure post-delivery there seems to have been a break of the needle which could not be located by the doctor administering the surgery or this procedure for this patient at the Ganesh Das facility. The doctor very correctly packed the patient quickly and did not pursue further the location of the needle because you need a better imaging facility which was not available at the Ganesh Das facility. The patient was then quickly transported to NEIGRIHMS,” she said.
“We are very grateful to the NEIGRIHMS facility as immediately imaging was done, the gyne department sprang into action and located the needle in the pelvic area of the patient. It is not true that the needle had travelled up.”
Lyngdoh, who had a long conversation with the patient, said, “The patient expressed the fact that she does not have the MHIS which is linked to the Aadhaar. She is a little disturbed by the medical expenses that could have occurred.”
“However, I am very grateful that the NEIGRIHMS again has come forward to assure the government that this one case because of the extraordinary circumstances that have occurred, they will willingly do the MHIS linkages or whatever and find a way out to help the patient so that the expenses are borne by the NEIGRIHMS and for this I expressed my gratefulness,” she said.
Ampareen has also extended some personal assistance to the family so that they can go home without that added tension of ‘who is going to pay the bill’.
