Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notices to various government health officials asking them to respond to a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) regarding the death of a young mother and her newborn baby boy in December 2022.
The notices were served to the deputy commissioner of medical health and family welfare, Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad, commissioner of director of public health, superintendent of Government General Hospital (GGH) in Mahbubnagar district, and principal secretary of the Medical Health and Family Welfare department.
The deceased, Charagonda Swarna, 24, and her newborn died due to medical negligence and delay in treatment.
On a fateful day, Swarna, a native of Yellampalli village in Nagarkurnool district developed labor pains. She was rushed in an ambulance by her parents to the primary health care center (PHC) at Padara, which is estimated to be 4kms away.
The staff referred her to another hospital in Achampet which was 25 kms away. However, as they reached the hospital, Swarna was checked for high blood pressure. They told her family that the hospital does not have proper facilities for conducting childbirth and then referred them to another hospital in Nagarkurnool, 35 km away.
However, when the family reached the Nagarkurnool hospital, they were referred to the Government General Hospital (GGH) in the Mahbubnagar district which is 50 km.
By then Swarna had travelled 124 km. Soon after she gave birth to her baby, she experienced fits leading to her death. The newborn also died.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji observed that due to a lack of facilities and equipment in any of these hospitals and PHC, Swarna, who was already suffering from high BP during her labour, passed away.
