SHILLONG:
Speaking to reporters after visiting the woman in NEIGRIHMS she said, “Question of compensation does not arise at this point in time. Prima facie as I observed, there seems to be no negligence. So the compensation question does not arise.”
She also informed that the patient is recovering and is stable.
When asked, the health minister said after gathering better information on this whole incident which occurred three-four days ago, the facts are now very clear.
“The patient went for delivery (at Ganesh Das hospital). The patient has a history of high-risk pregnancy. She got into a complicated situation where there was a problem with the delivery. The child was finally delivered but…the child had some complications right from the stage of birth. Now, post-delivery, the patient was kept under observation and subsequently, there was bleeding that was discovered by the staff and reported by the patient. The patient was taken back to the OT where a procedure had to start at the earliest to stop this bleeding and at the time of this procedure post-delivery there seems to have been a break of the needle which could not be located by the doctor administering this surgery or this procedure for this patient at the Ganesh Das facility. The doctor very correctly packed the patient quickly and did not pursue further the location of this needle because you need a better imaging facility which was not available at Ganesh Das. The patient was then quickly transported to NEIGRIHMS,” she said.
At NEIGRIHMS, she further informed, “We are very grateful to the NEIGRIHMS facility as immediately imaging was done, the gynecology department sprang into action and located the needle in the pelvic area of the patient. It is not true that the needle had travelled up.”
According to the minister, this kind of situation is not an unusual occurrence, and such facts need to be clearly understood by the media, which is communicating this information to the public.
Lyngdoh also informed that she had a long conversation with the patient and said, “The patient had expressed the one fact that she does not have the MHIS which is not linked to the Aadhaar. She is a little disturbed by the medical expenses that could have occurred.”
“However, I am very grateful that NEIGRIHMS again have come forward to assure the government of Meghalaya that in this one case because of the extraordinary circumstances that have occurred they will willingly do the MHIS linkages or whatever and find a way out to help the patient so that the expenses are borne by the NEIGRIHMS and for this I expressed my gratefulness,” she said while adding that she had also extended some personal assistance to the family so that they go back home without that added tension of who is going to pay the bill.