New Delhi|HL
After the death of Nursing officer at AIIMS Rajbir Kaur the All India Institute of Medical Sciences suspended five resident doctors in a case of alleged medical negligence .
Rajbir Kaur, 28, a nursing officer with AIIMS’ medicine department, was declared dead on Saturday after being on ventilator support for three weeks. She was admitted to the hospital’s obstetrics and gynaecology unit for delivery on January 16. Her family members and colleagues claim that hours before delivery, doctors found out that the heart beat of the fetus was slow, indicating a threat to the life of the unborn child. An emergency caesarean section planned to deliver the baby was delayed, the family claimed, as the anesthetist arrived late.
Kaur suffered a massive cardiac arrest during the procedure of surgery. Doctors were able to revive heart function by giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) then but Kaur slipped into coma thereafter, according to Harish Kumar Kajla, President of AIIMS Nursing Union, He also alleged that Kaur was given excessive medication to induce labour and this led to serious complications -a charge denied by the hospital.
One of our colleagues lost due to the negligence of the doctors. We want the doctors who were involved in the negligence towards her to be terminated Kajila added.
“We have formed a fact-finding committee headed by medical superintendent Dr D K Sharma to look into the matter. The preliminary report will be submitted within 48 hours following which action will be taken if negligence is proved,“ AIIMS spokesperson Dr Amit Gupta said. He added that three senior residents from obstetrics and gynaecology department and two junior residents from anesthesia department had been suspended with immediate effect pending inquiry.
In the meantime the Resident Doctors Association (RDA) has protested the suspensions and threatened to go on strike. “We strongly condemn this action and urge the administration to withdraw the suspension order immediately, failing which residents will be forced to withhold all patient care with immediate effect,“ Dr Vijay Gurjar, president of AIIMS RDA, said.
More than 500 nursing officers of AIIMS protested outside the director’s office alleging medical negligence in the case and demanding action against those guilty. Many of them remained off-duty, which affected patient services.
