Maternal deaths: Ashoka seeks judicial probe monitored by sitting judge

Belagavi: Alleging that it was the injection of “blacklisted” IV fluids and not the C-section deliveries that had led to the eventual maternal deaths in Ballari, leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly R Ashoka on Wednesday demanded a judicial probe.

The LoP told the House: “When I went to Ballari, I spoke to the doctors there. They said the C-section had been done properly, but pointed out that the creatinine levels had risen above 5-6 when IV fluids were injected.”

Quoting the doctors, Ashoka said when the doctors tried to control the creatinine levels, there was liver damage. 

“All organs failed and these changes occurred in 2-3 hours. However, this has not been mentioned in the report.”

When Ashoka said the IV fluids had been “blacklisted” and “frozen” by the government, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao explained that these companies had gone to court and brought a stay.

“Even the central drug lab gave a satisfactory report on these IV fluids, contradicting the reports from our labs,” the minister added.

Responding to this, Ashoka explained that these “fraud” companies were always powerful and narrated how they won most of such cases.

“This is a question of the lives of lactating mothers. Why did we leave the issue in the local courts? The government must have appealed in the high court and got a stay.”

Noting that a lactating mother had died in Kalaburagi the previous day and that several maternal deaths had occurred across the state, Ashoka pointed out that
most of such victims in government hospitals were poor people.

“Suspension of some officers doesn’t solve the problem. We must take this to its logical conclusion. The drug companies must get a message. Please order a judicial inquiry monitored by a sitting judge,” the LoP said.