Bhubaneshwar : A Division Bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman came down heavily on the State Government, doctors and healthcare system of the State in the case of the death of a tribalwoman who was apparently carrying a dead foetus in her body for 5 days and died due to medical negligence just hours after delivering a dead child.
The Bench has directed the State Government to immediately issue show-cause notices to all those whose conduct has been adversely commented by an Enquiry Committee which was constituted by the Odisha State Commission for Women (OSCW) and take action against the errant doctors, health workers and staffs of the district.
“There has been acute failure of the entire team of doctors at each level of the healthcare system in Odisha to provide timely and adequate care and treatment to the deceased as pointed out by the Enquiry Committee,” the Bench said, observing that the incident shocks the judicial conscience as the poor tribal woman had been carrying a dead foetus for about a week prior to her death with not a single healthcare worker coming to her rescue.“The increasing maternal deaths in Odisha point to a systematic failure of the healthcare system which appears to have failed the poorest and weakest at a time when they need it the most,” the Division Bench, also comprising Justice MS Raman, said in its 23-page judgment.
