Rajasthan records 19th maternal death in 3 months, govt launches screening drive

Jaipur, Jul 15 (PTI) A 25-year-old woman died at Bikaner's PBM Hospital after battling post-Caesarean complications for over a month, the third maternal death at the facility in recent weeks, officials said on Wednesday.

With the death of the woman on Tuesday, the maternal death toll in the state has climbed to 19 in three months.

PBM Hospital Superintendent Dr B C Ghiya said Kamla Mehgwal was admitted to the hospital's ICU on June 8. She was a diabetic and this was her third pregnancy.

A team of doctors treated her throughout, and her condition had shown improvement at one point, but her health deteriorated suddenly and she could not be saved despite the medical team's best efforts, he said.

"Our team made every possible effort to save her, but we could not succeed," Dr Ghiya said.

A senior PBM Hospital official said Meghwal delivered on the same day she was admitted, and both mother and child were initially stable.

Since she was a diabetic and had already undergone two prior Caesarean deliveries, doctors said another C-section was medically necessary, and the procedure itself went off without complications.

However, she developed complications the very next day, on June 9, and was put on dialysis. Her condition improved briefly, with urine output resuming and ventilator support withdrawn, the official said.

She subsequently underwent another surgery related to her C-section stitches, but her condition worsened due to multiple organ failure, leading to her death, the official said, adding her child is stable.

Ghiya said the condition of six women had worsened following deliveries at the hospital. While three died, the remaining three have been discharged.

Meghwal's death comes weeks after two other women died at the same hospital following similar post-delivery complications.

On June 19, 20-year-old Preeti became the first woman to die at the facility in Bikaner after developing complications post-delivery. Two days later, 26-year-old Sharda died after developing kidney failure and undergoing multiple rounds of dialysis. All three women had reported stoppage of urine output within 24 hours of their surgery, officials said.

Of the 19 maternal deaths recorded across Rajasthan in the past three months, five were reported from Kota, three from Bikaner, two from Jodhpur, and nine from Bhilwara and Banswara.

Following the series of maternal deaths across Rajasthan, the state government is set to launch a five-day statewide campaign from Wednesday to screen all pregnant women for key health parameters.

Announcing the move on Tuesday, Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Gayatri Rathore said the intensive screening drive aims to strengthen maternal and child health services and further reduce maternal mortality in the state.

"A five-day drive will be conducted from July 15 under which intensive screening of all pregnant women will be carried out across the state," Rathore had said.

During the campaign, records of important antenatal check-ups of pregnant women will be maintained to ensure regular monitoring of their health, she added. PTI