Doctor slapped, harassed wife after we lost twins: Kashmir man alleges negligence by govt hospital
Srinagar:A Kashmir-based journalist on Thursday wrote an open letter to Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik, alleging medical negligence by the Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar which led to the death of his twin babies. Abid Soffi has also alleged that his wife was slapped by one of the doctors and asked to shut up or leave the hospital. The incident happened in the wee hours of June 29.
In the letter to the Governor, Abid Soffi has alleged that the doctors at the Lal Ded Hospital declared that his babies were dead without conducting any tests on his wife. The doctors did not carry out any medical tests despite the repeated pleas since, Abid Soffi said, his wife could still feel the movement of her babies.
Soffi has alleged that when his wife said that she could feel the movement of the babies, the doctors shouted at her.
“The doctors on duty asked her to lie on the bed and without any test – Ultrasound or other tests – declared that both the babies have died. When my wife insisted that she can feel the movement of the babies and my mother-in-law argued about the same they were shouted at and silenced,” Abid Soffi said in the open letter which he also posted on his social media profiles.
The journalist said that the security officer at the hospital did not allow him into the room and “pushed me out every time I tried to enter”. Soffi said that when the babies were finally delivered inducing labour, “they were still alive and were left unattended”. His wife has alleged that one of the senior doctors asked his assistance to put the first child on the table, “despite him being alive”. ”It was only after a junior doctor insisted; the baby was taken to the ICU for children. The doctors again had to inject drugs to get the second baby out. The doctors had to manually pull the baby down to get him out. This was the time when the doctor complaint of her dress being ruined by the blood of my wife and children,” Abid Soffi wrote in the open letter.
On one of the doctors’ complaints that her dress was ruined because of the blood of the woman, Soffi said that such comments “when two children were about to die were sickening”.
Soffi said, “My wife pleaded with the doctors to save the second baby…The second baby was delivered and he too was alive He was also taken to the ICU for children. Instead of consoling my wife, the behavior of the doctors was the most important factor that my wife is afraid to consult a doctor for further course of action.”
“The doctor said that as the babies were born premature,” Soffi said, adding that the doctor did not even care to inform him of his kids’ death when he met him. “It was only after I inquired after their health; he said ‘they are dead’ and went on to do his paperwork,” Abid Soffi said.
Abid Soffi further said that when he went to the Lal Ded Hospital too “seek some answers”, a doctor looked at his wife’s file and asked if “there was a second part to the file” and asked another doctor to look at it. One of the doctors told Soffi that he should be relieved since the kids were born prematurely.
“I could sense the uneasiness of the MS while handing over the file to another doctor. Then the lady doctor said that the babies were born premature and I should be relieved that they are dead or else if they survived and had complications, I would have to face difficulties,” Soffi said. He also alleged that the doctors had conveniently not written anything about the injections they had given to his wife.
Abid Soffi also claims that another woman’s child died at the Lal Ded Hospital after he “slipped from the ‘tray’ and fell on the ground”.
“The family, a resident of border district of Kupwara in north Kashmir, alleged that they were asked ‘not to speak out about the incident or else their second baby would also die’. The woman, who was in deep shock, didn’t even take her second baby in her lap,” he alleged.
Demanding an investigation into the case, Abid Soffi said that the guilty should be punished so that “no one has to go through what my family, my wife and I had to go through.”
