Union Minister Karandlaje accuses Karnataka govt of 'hiding' maternal death figures, seeks inquiry

Bengaluru: Accusing the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka of “hiding” the actual maternal death figures in Bellari district, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on Saturday demanded an inquiry and action against the state’s Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao.

She noted that four women died in Ballari district hospital in just a week and another woman lost her life in VIMS (Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences, Ballari).

Demanding compensation for the victim’s families, the union minister said, “Siddaramaiah government is hiding figures. Immediately, there should be an inquiry and action should be taken against Minister Rao.” “The glucose that was administered after cesarean was fake. Ringer Lactate glucose was supplied by Paschim Banga Pharmaceutical Ltd. This glucose has been banned. It was said by the department not to give it. Even then it was used and women lost their lives,” she alleged.

Amid concerns that recent maternal deaths in Ballari district could be linked to substandard Ringer Lactate solution, its use has been suspended in all government hospitals as a precautionary measure, Rao said earlier in the day.

“If around 30 women and 111 children have died in only three-four districts, then how many deaths must have occurred in the entire state?,” the union minister asked and accused the Siddaramaiah government of hiding the exact figures of maternal deaths.

Health department officials reported a sudden increase in maternal deaths at the Ballari district hospital between November 9 and 11, following caesarean operations.

Out of 34 caesarean procedures conducted during this period, seven patients experienced complications, including acute kidney injury requiring dialysis and multi-organ dysfunction, the health department statement said.

Four of the affected patients died, while two have been discharged, and one is currently recovering at VIMS in Ballari, it said.

Nothing that a committee from Rajeev Gandhi University had gone to Ballari hospital, Karandlaje said a report was submitted. “That report was also hidden….in every hospital, there are issues, corruption, lack of staff, no medicines,” she alleged.

Calling the state government “ruthless” and “cruel”, she asked, “the Paschim Banga Pharmaceutical Ltd belongs to whom and why medicines were being bought from them? “To whom these were supplied. How many districts were these (medicines) supplied and how many deaths have happened in each districts,” she asked.

The union minister further alleged that the District Health Officers had been instructed to hide the exact number of deaths of women and children.