Ruckus at CMRI after woman dies a day after childbirth

Kolkata: Tension cropped up at CMRI Hospital after a woman died on the wee hours of Thursday, after giving birth to a baby on Wednesday.

According to sources, a few days ago Pinki Bhattacharya (30) of Tantipara in Howrah was admitted at the hospital for caesarean delivery. On Wednesday, she gave birth to a baby.

Later, Pinki's family members met her and found both her and the baby to be fine. However, on Thursday morning, her family members were informed by the hospital authorities that Pinki had died.

Her husband Tapen Bhattacharya and other relatives subsequently went to the hospital and became angry. Suspecting a law and order problem, hospital authorities informed police, following which the concerned doctor and hospital authorities reportedly tried to calm Tapen and the others down.

On Thursday, Tapen alleged that the hospital authorities and concerned doctor did not attend to his wife despite her falling sick. "We last saw her at 9 pm on Wednesday night. Now the hospital is saying that she died early on Thursday morning. But no one is telling us what exactly happened which resulted in her death," he said.

Another relative of the Bhattacharya family alleged that on Thursday morning, when they went to meet the doctor in order to know what had happened, hospital staff reportedly misbehaved with them and tried to put pressure for paying the bill.

A patient identified as Sabina Yasmin, who was admitted in the same ward as Pinki, claimed that despite complaining of pain and trying to call for help, none came to attend to her. There was no doctor in the ward at that moment either.

While talks were going on between hospital authorities and the patient party in presence of police on Thursday morning, Tapen suddenly became agitated and slapped the doctor who was standing there.

Later, hospital authorities claimed that there was no negligence from their part as well as from the doctor. Pinki had suffered a cardiac arrest, following which she died. However, the baby is reportedly fit and will soon be discharged.

Tapen lodged a complaint against the hospital authorities at Alipore police station, alleging medical negligence. Police sources informed that a preliminary inquiry has been started on the basis of the complaint. However, no complaints were filed till Thursday night from the CMRI Hospital or the doctor who was assaulted.