The high percentage of maternal deaths in the Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Government Medical College & Hospital (SCCGMCH) in Uluberia has triggered a controversy among doctors in the teaching hospital.

The incidents have woken up the rogi kalian samiti (RKS) of SCCGMCH and district administration in Howrah respectively.

The district magistrate (DM) of Howrah has recently held a meeting with the SCCGMCH doctors and administrative officials seeking clarifications on regular cases of maternal deaths at the teaching hospital in Uluberia.

On 26 January, The Statesman reported that five cases of maternal deaths were recorded in the SCCGMCH within one month.

According to a member of the RKS of the hospital, the DM was not happy with so many deaths of mothers during delivery in 30 days and urged the hospital authorities to take immediate precautionary measures and strengthen infrastructure facilities in the critical care unit (CCU) and human resource’s strength.

Every case of maternal death anywhere in the country must have to be updated to the Union health ministry.

On the other hand, RKS comprising PWD minister Pulak Roy, Trinamul Congress MLA Dr Nirmal Majhi, who is also the chairman of the governing body of the hospital and senior doctors, held a meeting and pulled up a senior gynaecologist for his alleged negligence in hospital duty.

With a report of a maternal death in the CCU of the hospital on 25 January, five mothers died so far, after giving births at the hospital during the past 25 days.

Sabina Khatun, a 28-year-old pregnant woman, died in the CCU of the hospital around 2.50pm on 25 January, prompting doctors of both the gynaecology department and the CCU to get into spats, blaming each other.

Aggrieved relatives of the deceased became angry and staged agitation to protest against her death.

Around 250 locals rushed to the hospital soon after her death and gheraoed doctors and other staff in the new building, where the CCU is housed.

“We are sorry to say that gynaecologists in our hospital are not sincere in their work. Most of the mothers are dying due to PPH (postpartum hemorrahage) and related complications. Repeated maternal deaths are serious issues and this can be prevented if patients are treated promptly and properly but nothing is done. PPH cases can be handled through surgical and clinical interventions,” a CCU doctor of the hospital had said.

Sources in the hospital alleged that some senior gynaecologists spend most of their time in nursing homes adjacent to the SCCGMCH in Uluberia town ignoring patients in their official workplace.