Apathy at govt hospitals shocking

No words would be sufficient to condemn the apathetic treatment meted out to a poor woman which led to her death along with those of her two newborns due to denial of admission in the district government hospital in Tumakuru on Thursday. The woman was reportedly turned away from the hospital due to non-possession of the Aadhaar Card and ‘Taayi’ (Maternity card issued by the Karnataka Government).

The incident has justifiably aroused outrage from people, media and politicians alike, some of whom have rightly demanded resignation of the Health Minister Mr. Sudhakar. Though the minister has initiated action by ordering suspension of the duty doctor and three nurses, the sense of indignation calls for more than what has been done. The incident is symptomatic of the deeper rot within the public healthcare system and deserves a thorough overhauling of the system to make it responsive to the healthcare needs of the people.

Healthcare manuals across the world are unanimous in according priority to patients as the prime purpose of a healthcare system. Any system or an institution that turns away a patient, and a woman undergoing intense labour pain at that, merely for non-possession of a document of identity, only highlights the depravity of the personnel and the insensitivity of system to pain of the individual which they are ought to relieve.

Identity of a person can never be more important in circumstances that were being faced by the destitute woman in Tumakuru. Ensuring a safe delivery of the infants and rescuing her from risk of death should have been the paramount task for the hospital and the doctor who attended on her, when the unfortunate woman approached the hospital. As for the system, accessibility and availability of both the hospital and the physician should be assured to all those who require and seek healthcare.

The Tumakuru incident involving three deaths, though horrendous, is not the first of its kind in the State. There have been reports earlier of women delivering infants on the footpath near the hospital on being denied admission or while being carried on a pushcart. In most such cases, the victims were the ones who did not have resources to afford private healthcare or delivery services and suffered the indignity that the members of the lower strata of society suffer from in an era where money and profit have become the sole criterion for valuing an individual.

Labour pain being a tussle between life and death, the hospitals are advised to deal with them with utmost priority and spare no effort to ensure the safety of mother and the newborn. A healthcare system that fails on these counts, needs a thorough review in order to remove the biases against the poor, the ones who fail to prove their identity and satisfy norms that fetch attention and induce respect. One hopes the Tumakuru incident would trigger introspection among those who can make difference between life and death of people who approach them and provide the very raison d’etre for their calling.