Jaipur: Five women were shifted Saturday to the intensive care unit of the govt-run Umaid Hospital in Jodhpur, where they had undergone caesarean deliveries over the past two days, officials said. One of the five women is currently on ventilator support, they added.This comes even as the govt is grappling to establish the cause of deaths of 19 women in state-run hospitals across five districts since May, with all but one of them being new mothers who had succumbed to various post-caesarean complications.“All five women are stable and under close medical supervision. We have kept four of them in the ICU for observation, while one remains on ventilator support,” Umaid Hospital superintendent Mohan Makwana told TOI.The patient on ventilator support had developed a cardiac complication during her caesarean operation, Makwana said. Another one of the five women, who was referred to Umaid Hospital in critical condition from Pali district, was also put on ventilator support initially, before being taken off Saturday morning after her condition improved, he added.The three remaining patients, who had all developed post-caesarean complications, have been shifted to the ICU as a precautionary measure to enable continuous monitoring, Makwana said.According to hospital authorities, specialists are regularly reviewing the conditions of all five women. Teams have been stationed in the ICU round the clock to ensure prompt medical intervention in the event of anybody’s condition deteriorating.Also Saturday, chief secretary V Srinivas reviewed maternal mortality and high-risk pregnancy management across the state, addressing health officials of all districts, including zonal joint directors, medical college principals and hospital superintendents through video link.He directed that every high-risk pregnant woman be mapped and connected to the nearest healthcare facility, whether it be a community health centre (CHC), sub-district hospital, district hospital or medical college.Srinivas also asked officials to ensure that all high-risk pregnant women remain under auxiliary nurse-midwife supervision, with personal contact every three days and access to doctors available whenever needed.Srinivas further directed health officials to maintain daily compliance with labour room and operation theatre protocols, ensure daily reporting on ICU and labour room functioning and conduct institutional and community-level audits of every maternal death.He also called for stronger public communication on issues of antenatal care, birth spacing, anaemia and prior delivery complications.Principal secretary (Health and Medical Education), Gayatri Rathore, said official directions related to compliance with pregnancy and childbirth protocol have already been issued. The department has also been running a five-day campaign starting July 15, under which each pregnant woman across the state is being tracked and screened.GFXUnravelling Crisis, Unknown CauseAll five women had undergone caesarean deliveries at Umaid Hospital over the past two daysOne of them developed cardiac complications during her delivery, and remains on ventilator supportHospital authorities reported all five women as being stable and under close medical supervisionTeams have been posted to ensure immediate medical intervention whenever necessary19 women have died in govt hospital across five districts since May, all but one of them after developing post-delivery complicationsDespite multiple reports from expert committees, the exact cause of these deaths remains unknown
